The Best LGBTQ+ Literature for Pride 2021

In this winner of the 2020 Lambda Award for best Lesbian Fiction, many tough choices face the titular Patsy: She decides to leave Jamaica, her daughter, and her husband looking for a better life in America and her first love, Cicely. While she grabs the reins of her life, it doesn’t stay on course, and she’s left trying to navigate through her desired dreams and harsher reality. A bold exploration of immigration and motherhood.

Alex, the First Son of the United States, starts off frenemies and ends up lovers with Henry, the Prince of Wales. A sweet LGBTQ+ love story that provides a heavy dose of much-needed escapism from real-world politics.

There’s nothing quite like “The House in the Cerulean Sea” — wonderfully weird, quietly romantic, and full of magic and queerness. Caseworker Linus Baker doesn’t push boundaries; he meticulously reports about orphanages taking care of children with supernatural powers. But his worldview is taken for a spin when he is assigned to work at Marsyas Island Orphanage, where the children are particularly monstrous and the caretaker extremely mysterious. One of the finest found family stories around.

The second we saw author Zen Cho describe her fantasy adventure as “A stressed zillennial lesbian fights gods, ghosts, gangsters & grandmas in 21st century Penang” on Twitter, we were in! Equal parts sass, suspense, family drama, and heart, you don’t want to miss this charmer set in modern Malaysia.