A Few Term Definitions
In ancient Greece, the female poet Sappho wrote a substantial number of verses focused on love between two females and her own homosexuality. She lived on the island of Lesbos which resulted in the more modern term lesbianism.
Sapphic Love
Today sapphic love is a larger more generic term that applies to love between and among women of various gender identities and sexual orientations and includes a wide range on queer people on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. The term has also come to include self-love for queer women. In terms of sapphic literature, it is comprised of coming of age stories to adult queer stories, to non-fictional sapphic experiences of real life, characters of all “shapes and sizes,” and filled with a myriad subject matter to fall into.
Genres of Sapphic Books
There are two large categories of novels – fictitious and non-fictitious.
Fiction is any book/story that is not true, although events in the plot may be based on actual events. And there are a number of sub-categories here:
- Romance
- Horror
- Action/Adventure
- Sci-Fi
- Fantasy
- Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
- Historical sapphic fiction based on specific time periods of history but with fictional characters and plot
Non-Fiction sapphic novels have fewer sub-categories but are usually comprised of:
- Memoirs
- Stories written about actual events – well-known or personal
- History of the sapphic world and lifestyles
- Politics involving the queer community and queer women specifically
- Challenges of queer women in society
This article will cover only the fictional side of sapphic literature. Non-fiction should be a read for another article.
With that out of the way, let’s have a look at some of the most current and popular fictional sapphic books.
Current Sapphic Literature in all Genres
Romance
This is the largest category of queer female literature. There is simply more of it than any other category. And it often overlaps into other categories because, after all, sapphic literature is all about relationships between girlfriends and partners, whether they are high school girls in their teens or adults.
Loser of the Year by Carrie Byrd
Mattie Belman is a Jewish wannabe actress whose acting career and marriage have both failed. With this emotional trauma as baggage, she returns to her hometown for a fresh start and a new life, teaching high school theatre in a Catholic school, to earn a living.
Belman begins by casting a musical, and plenty of the soccer team members are given roles in the production. Jillian Reed, the soccer coach is pretty upset, seeing this whole musical thing as nothing but a bad distraction for her players and a threat to her championship win. She declares “war” on Mattie, and Mattie doesn’t flinch and digs in her heels. These two characters could not be any more different
These enemies cannot deny the chemistry between them, but the homophobia in the community, the conflicting religious overtones, and the morality clause in St. Rita’s teaching contracts, makes their relationship pretty risky.
Byrd has written in plenty of humor, wit, and sarcasm that add to the enjoyment of this piece. It’s worthy of a read for sure.
Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
It’s the holidays. And lesbian Darcy is tired of her brother’s continued insistence on fixing her up with dates that are of no interest. She is focused on her career and has no time for romance or relationships. Her most recent date has been with Elle, an astrologer who is free-spirited and looking for that one who can complete her and live in bliss forever. The date was a disaster, but Darcy has hit upon a plan.
She talks Elle into a fauxmance just for the holidays, so she can get her brother off her back and satisfy her family that he finally has a relationship. The deal will end on New Years Day, and Darcy can go back to her work. Elle agrees to the arrangement.
Who would have thought these two opposites would find the chemistry that turned into a full-blown romance. But that is exactly what happened. Do opposites attract? Evidently in this case, they do.
The wit and humor is one of the greatest assets of this read. And the fact that the representation of the black sapphic population is just icing on the cake.
Fixing Hearts by K.C. Luck
With plenty of other books under her belt, this is not a debut novel for Luck, but is her most recent, published in June 2025. And again, it has a backdrop of opposites attract.
Jo Fuller is a butch lesbian who could only be characterized as a free spirit. Her life is all wrapped up in fixing cars in her own garage and a “love them and leave them” attitude toward other women.
Opposite Jo is Evelyn Barkley whose profession is a research assistant. Her life is governed by order and logic, yet she is an incurable romantic, looking for that happily-ever-after lifelong love. But she doesn’t have much time for that other than to read sexy romance novels and live a bit vicariously through them.
They meet, and the chemistry is undeniable, though both understand how different they are.
As for themes, probably the most important is the power of love to heal. Both Jo and Evelyn have their fears – Jo of commitment and Evelyn of breaking free from her life of order and logic. But they manage to do so and create a bond through mutual self-discovery.
Both of these characters are engaging and well developed.
Overall, this novel is a great read, and not just for lesbians.
Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
Billed as a romantic comedy, this story is far more than that.
Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale were once best friends, ever since childhood when they spent their summers in rebellious activities against their ultra-conservative small town and vowed to one day escape the place. There was an incident the summer before their senior year in high school, and they became enemies, not speaking to each other again.
Life has a way of getting in the way though. Years later, they are both teaching at their old high school, still enemies and still avoiding each other. Rosemary is pretty much married to her job and, as the author says, her relationship was with her label maker. Logan, on the other hand, has embarked on a life of one lesbian relationship after another, changing partners like outfits.
And life happens once again. A beloved former English teacher of both of them tells them that he has very little time left and asks them to fulfill his final wish – a cross-country road trip that he has mapped out for his final summer on the planet. And the two enemies are forced into a “the gayest van west of the Mississippi” for this road trip.
Throughout the trip, a full range of emotions is on display – airing of grievances, the making of truces, the shedding of tears, and lost love is found again.
Mystery, Suspense, Thrills
The Verifiers by Jane Pek
Online dating has rapidly risen to a multi-billion-dollar industry. Along with it have come a host of “side” and related businesses. One problem is that scammers and trolls join these services with bad intentions.
Enter verification services – companies hired by a user to dig into the backgrounds of other users they are communicating with to verify who and what they are. One of those companies is Verify, and one of its newest hires is Claudia Lin, much to her mother’s and sister’s disapproval – after all she left a promising career in finance to become an amateur sleuth. Despite her toxic relationship with these two family members, Claudia is following a dream since childhood, having grown up on mystery novels.
One of her latest clients, Iris Lettriste, has been involved with two men – Charretter, who chats with her a lot but always has an excuse for not meeting up, and Captain Bubbles, a man she has dated in person but someone she suspects is hiding something.
Claudia gets to work on the case, but her client’s death puts an end to it. But being a sleuth at heart, Claudia keeps digging, only to discover that Iris is not at all who she said she was. Her bosses close the books on Iris but not Claudia. And in her digging, she also discovers what her bosses are hiding. Could she now be in danger too? It certainly looks that way.
This is Pek’s first novel, but it appears that there may be a mystery series in the works.
Run Baby Run by Melissa Lenhardt
Darcy Evans is due to get married in a week and is about to leave her home in Austin and head to Chicago for the wedding. Unbeknownst to her, her future in-laws have invited her mother to the affair. Darcy and her mother haven’t spoken in 3 years since her mother abruptly blocked and ghosted her from all contact. She and her mother, Marja, were a close family duo before this, with Darcy being raised by this single mother.
Mom shows up at her door in a 1969 cherry red Mustang and insists they drive to Chicago together. Darcy agrees, thinking she’ll finally get some answers and picking up some info on towns and cities she has never visited for her successful travel blog.
To complicate matters, her future sister-in-law professes her love for Darcy, and Darcy is now trying to sort out her feelings about that too. These three women are the main characters in a drama that is just unfolding. Is Darcy about to become the wife of someone she may not really love? And will Marja and finally explain her absence from Darcy’s life?
During the drive, Marja is strangely silent about the past three years, putting off answering her many questions. And the drive is frighteningly interrupted by a Cartel hitman who tried to murder them. Enter an FBI agent that, Lena Gonzalez, who obviously has had some kind of relationship with Marja over the past three years. Another layer added – now the three women are four.
The characters make this book the 5-star hit that it is, and two incredible romances emerge. Life, love, and romance are alive and well in this twisty story.
Manga
Manga is a category all its own, and Yuri Manga is lesbian Manga. While much of Manga has supernatural and other fantasy elements, most Yuri Manga has realistic settings. Anyone who is interested in Yuri Manga will have no lack of sapphic literature, some of it hugely sexual and steamy, some of it just stories about two women who live and love one another.
Much of Yuri Manga is in high school settings. But there are a few in adult environments. Here’s one:
Still Sick by Ahashi
The plot line here is simple. 29-year-old Shimizu and 25-year-old Maekawa both have office jobs, are co-workers, but in different departments.
Shimizu has an almost obsessed with a hobby. She writes and draws Yuri stories using her favorite anime women characters, frequenting attending related conventions to sell them – a nice little side hustle in her life and an important part of her world.
At one convention, Shimizu runs into Maekawa who made a wrong turn on her way to another convention in the same building. During their brief conversation, Maekawa reveals that she was once a rising star in Mangaka but it’s in her past, mostly because her father wishes.
Even though they share their interest in Yuri Manga, Maekawa is reluctant to return to it. In the course of her encouraging the resistant Maekawa, Shimizu finally admits to her own lesbian identity and develops strong feelings for Maekawa. Can friends and co-workers become lovers without harming their personal and professional lives?
What makes this sapphic book so appealing? First, it’s a romance between two mature grounded adults. And second, it presents sapphic romance as a gradually developing thing, far more realistic than the “love at first sight” that is so often seen in sapphic stories. In all, it’s a nice light read when the heavier stuff is wearing thin.
Fantasy and Sci Fi
Sapphic literature in a world of the supernatural and the unreal is popular with a large group of queer women who love the “escape” it provides. And it’s easy to find loads of books to feed that “escape.” Here are a couple fantasy sapphic books that have hit the shelves in recent years:
Sweet and Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley
Witches and sapphic romance combine for a bit of a complex fantasy tale, but a compelling one for those who find lesbian fantasy good reads.
Tamsin is the most powerful witch in her queendom. But she commits a sin with her magic and is exiled by the ruling coven in her community, along with a curse – she will never be able to love. Tamsin has to turn to stealing love from others to get that love feeling back, even if just for a little while.
Wren is what is called a “source,” someone with powers. but she chooses to hide them, to avoid going through the required training of the coven. Plus, there is her sick father to care for.
When a plague threatens the queendom, Wren’s father falls to it. He is close to death, and Wren cannot imagine the grief she will feel. So, she makes a bargain with enemy witch Tamsin. If she will help Wren get the dark witch who cased the plague, Wren will give Tamsin her love for her dad. They take off to catch the evil witch, and it’s a hell of a journey. They argue, fight and are ready to kill each other at times. Not even a friendship here.
Both of these women are conflicted. Tamsin used her powers to save her sister from death which resulted in her banishment. She regrets doing it but could not imagine the guilt and grief she would endure if her sister had died. Wren loves her father but at the same time longs for a life freer from her parents.
Gradually, enemies become friends and friends become lovers. The rest of the conclusions would be spoilers.
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Viv is an orc barbarian in Thune who has decided to end her decades of sword warfare. She has a new dream – opening up a coffee shop in Thune, even though no one in the city even knows what coffee is.
She will need help to make this dream a reality. There are forces at work against her – old rivals who want to see her fail and be forced to go back to her old life.
Help comes from a lot of places in the form of characters who want to see her successful, and they all pitch in to help. To run a coffee shop, she needs employees, financial management, and creating an atmosphere that other people want to be in comfortably.
Slowly, Viv builds a community with her employees and her customers, and the shop becomes a cozy place with a new found family. All kinds of different people gather at the shop. And she even finds a brewmaster and someone to help with her finances.
Also gradually, romance begins to come into Viv’s environment, rounding out all that she could want in her world.
The draw of this story is in its “coziness,” humor, friendships, and the stories of all who gather there. It’s a magic of a new sort – a family that shares all of its hopes and dreams, every member putting themselves out there to be supported by everyone else.
If you are looking for a feel good story with a sapphic romance to boot, this read is a winner.
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El Mohtar and Max Gladstone
At first, the plot of this novel appears to be relatively simple. There are two at-war ruling families, red and blue, each of which has an agent who is to travel back in time and change the future to their advantage, so they could rule. The agents for this task are Garden for Blue and Agency for Red, and they’re both pretty ruthless but different in their techniques. Garden uses a traditional violent approach; Agency relies on her technological expertise.
Odd things begin to happen. Red is tired after a battle Blue leaves her a letter on the battlefield. Red reads it and responds. They begin to leave letters for each other, hiding them so their rulers will not find out. Over the years and through many centuries and emotions, they come to learn about each other and develop a wary friendship, a friendship which then turns to a longing for one another. Read the novel to learn what happens to these two queer people who have become romantic girlfriends and lovers, and its impact on their two employers and their family lines. It will provide hope for humanity.
Horror
Anyone who is into stories of terror, monsters, torture, horrible frights, mutilation, and such but who is also a fan or romance involving women, the sapphic world of horror is the place to be. Readers who are fans of all of this will find books listed here as ones they won’t soon forget.
Extasia by Claire LeGrand
This is a story of religious trauma visited upon women in a misogynist cult. It’s The Handmaid’s Tale on steroids, complete with evil and horrific torture and punishments for the females in the small village of Haven. the inhabitants are isolated from the rest of the world and told that God has chosen Haven as His chosen people. Readers learn that certain girls are chosen to be saints, and Amity, a name given to her by the cult leaders, is to be one of them.
What they go through in terms of torture is hard to read, but for those readers who are up to it, it’s hard to understand how these brainwashed survive without committing suicide. These scenes will be hard to forget. But Amity endures it, so that her family will be redeemed after what her horrible and evil mother did that brought them shame. And knowing nothing else, Amity just accepts it all. Women are not allowed to read; they may not have mirrors or even cooking utensils that could become weapons. A true cult where religious trauma reigned.
Gradually, Amity begins to see things differently. She came to see her own father as evil and that her mother was not the evil person who brought shame to the family, but a woman who stood up to the evil of the men in the village.
Along the way on her journey to reality, Amity develops a romantic relationship with another girl, and that is a bit of a catharsis for readers.
Amity leads the rebellion, and it is bloody. Ultimately, the jewel in the crown is that the girls choose their own names – symbolic of their freedom. Amity’s romance flourishes to boot.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Terror comes in all shapes and sizes. This story doesn’t have horrible creatures like Chucky. It’s a novel of deception and terror of a different kind. And of among gay (generic) literature, it’s a great read, though with a tragic ending, as least as far as a loving queer relationship and marriage between two women is concerned. It’s probably a read you won’t be able to put down once begun, so be prepared.
This read is told by alternating narratives of the two protagonists, Miri and Leah, a couple who have been married for several years. Leah is a marine biologist who works for a strange organization known as The Centre. She is often gone on marine expeditions as a part of her research work.
Miri works for a nonprofit organization writing grants.
Leah leaves for a 3-week expedition but never returns – that is, for 6 months. During this time, Miri is frantic and eventually resigns herself to the fact that Leah is probably dead. The Centre is no help at all, giving her no answers other than they are “working on it.”
Six months later, the submarine surfaces, and Leah is returned home by the Centre. Miri is ecstatic, but that is short lived.
Leah has changed. She is not eating, spends all of her time in the bathtub, and begins drinking saltwater. Concerned, Miri tries to call the Centre, only to find that their phone has been disconnected, and they have vanished. She then contacts the spouse of another member of the crew, only to find that she is dead.
Miri is frantic. She doesn’t know how to help Leah who continues to deteriorate. Ultimately one of her eyes explodes, gushing out saltwater. Miri finally submits to the inevitable. She must let Leah go. She and the spouse of the other crew member take Leah to the ocean. With a look back with her one remaining eye, Leah dives into the ocean and is gone.
Readers of this novel are left with many questions for sure. But the reviews of the work are are all positive. While this review is a spoiler in terms of the ending, no one can fully absorb the story of Leah’s “fall” without reading it first-hand. In terms of queer horror literature, this is a page-turner for sure.
Historical Sapphic Novels
First, let’s define this category. It’s a genre of novels that have a fictional plot, but the book takes place in a setting of actual historic events or time periods. Sapphic historical novels deal with romantic relationships between girls and women within a specific historical setting.
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
This piece is set in Victorian England in the 1890s and explores the “underbelly” of an otherwise pompous and polite society. It has been well-researched, so that anyone who reads it will get a full and realistic portrayal of the seedy side of life during this time.
The main protagonist, Nan King, is immersed in her family’s restaurant in Whitstable. After a chance encounter with a cross-dressing entertainer, Nan goes to London with her, as her dresser, and a full-blown lesbian relationship in the backdrop of the theatre. They split, but Nan is determined to find and be her true self. Mam enters the “world” of “forbidden” homosexuality and immerses herself in one affair after another. Through it all, her promiscuity leads to horrible and joyful relationships. At the same time, the Labor Movement is beginning, opening the stodgy Victorian Age up and exposing all of its faults.
In the course of each lesbian encounter, Nan learns more about herself and emerges with a strong sense of self. The rest of her story is for those who open the book and read it.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
This historical novel falls between a 6-month period of time from late summer 1954 through January 1955. It is a time of the “Red Scare” and “McCarthyism” in the US during which there was an unreasonable fear of Communism, especially from the Soviet Union and China. It led to persecution of Americans who were of Russian or Chinese heritage as well as Hollywood figures who were accused of being Communists. It’s a great read for those interested in that time period and the challenges and perils of those who were potential targets
Into this backdrop is placed Lily Hu, a teen in Chinatown, who is exploring her identity as a lesbian. Her refuge is the Telegraph Club, and she and her girlfriend Kathleen Miller frequent the club, once Kathleen secures a fake ID for her. The girls secretly meet up and keep attending the Telegraph Club on Friday nights. Ultimately, the club is raided (it is, after all, the 50’s, and being queer is illegal).
Lily attempts to tell her family that she is queer, but they are not having it. After the Chinese New Year, in late January, Lily is sent to live with her Aunt Judy in Pasadena for her final year of school. No spoiler alert here – read the book.
This novel is well-researched, full of emotional ups and downs, and just so well-written. Readers will have a tough time putting it down
This concludes your journey through the realm of books of the sapphic world. With luck, you will find some great reads that speak to you personally.
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Among its many cool features, more than any other online dating service on the planet, Taimi operates as its own social media platform with many groups to join and participate in. These groups are formed based upon topics of interest, and there are just so many of interest to explore. If you are into sapphic literature, there may be group to join. If not, any member may form a new group so form one yourself for others who love to read sapphic tales of all categories. Once you find these others, you can share the best reads with each other and, who knows? You might just find a romantic interest from among your followers.
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