The Queen Of Whale Cay by Kate Summerscale
Marion ‘Joe’ Carstairs was a powerhouse of wealth and refusal
Shanghai Lalas by Lucetta Yip Lo Kam
The first ethnographic study focusing on the community structures, survival strategies, and political realities of lesbians in modern Shanghai.
Maid To Queer by Francisca Yuenki Lai
An ethnographic study of Indonesian migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong who develop same-sex relationships and navigate alternative sexual identities.
A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford
A young woman discovers love, betrayal, and desire in a bohemian French village in this classic 1960s lesbian coming-of-age novel.
The Practice Of Love by Teresa De Lauretis
A foundational queer theory text re-evaluating Freudian psychoanalysis to define the unique mechanics of lesbian desire.
Bleak Water by Danuta Reah
a body turns up in the water, the painting stops looking like art and starts looking like a map
Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann
Rosamond Lehmann’s scandalous 1927 coming-of-age classic features a passionate, formative lesbian romance at Cambridge University.
Booked For Murder (Lindsay Gordon Crime Series, Book 5) by V.L. McDermid
This is a collection of short crime fiction, not a long-form novel. It’s useful for your database because it features Kate Brannigan—McDermid’s private investigator who happens to be a lesbian—but you won’t find a single, sustained narrative here. McDermid uses the shorter format to experiment with different voices. You get a mix of hard-boiled grit, … Read more
