Queer Historical Romance Novels: A Starter Pack

Our columnist recommends books featuring centuries of L.G.B.T.Q. love stories that defy tragedy, laugh in the face of shame and lean into unabashed joy.

By Olivia Waite

Feb. 26, 2025

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Writing a list of queer historical romances feels half like writing a manifesto and half like writing a eulogy. Here are the love stories we created; here are our voices and hopes and desires, when we were still allowed to openly name them. Queer literary history has never been simple — even the parts of it I’ve personally lived through have contained incredible transformations — but what frightens me are the people who want to make tragedy the central queer experience again.

When I get in this mood, I turn to queer historical romance. Seeing queer people build their own happiness brick by brick no matter what the world thinks of them nourishes something in me.

So I’ve listed some of my favorites for you here, stretching from the ancient worlds of A.J. Demas all the way to 20th-century New York City. I offer you centuries of L.G.B.T.Q. romance, of stories that defy tragedy and laugh in the face of shame, of people successfully claiming joy — as is their right.