Yes, there is queer suffering in many of these books, but there is also queer resilience and joy. The queer characters in them have full, complicated, sometimes joyful, sometimes heartbreaking lives. Not all of these books have happy endings, although many of them do. And while we desperately need more historical fiction staring queer people, there are, happily, some wonderful books out there that center queer stories from centuries past. You might think, given the general lack of queer characters in historical fiction, that queer people sprang into existence sometime in the late 1960s. There’s definitely not enough queer historical fiction in the world.
So it’s no surprise that Pride has got me thinking about queer historical fiction. For me, Pride has always been about honoring the past as much as celebrating the present. It’s Pride month, which means I get to unapologetically talk up queer books all month (as if I don’t do that 12 months of the year).
