This is a list of lesbian-themed fiction. It includes books and plays. The lists of adult and of YA-appropriate works are split into separate headings.
To keep this list a manageable length, the list is confined to those works and authors who have been notable enough to merit Wikipedia pages in their own right.
Below the main list, the article also includes: information on particularly prolific publishing subcultures like fanfiction and mysteries; a list of lesbian and feminist publishing houses; and a list of nonfiction works on this topic.
Works of lesbian fiction, in chronological order
Pre-1700
Symposium. By Plato. c. 300s BC. (There's a story about how all soulmate couples, including female-female couples, used to be joined into one two-faced body.) Dialogues of the Courtesans. By Lucian of Samosata. c. 100s AD. (A character Leaina confesses to having a relationship with another woman, Megilla.) Epigrams. By Martial. c. 100s AD. (Contains satirical poems about a masculine lesbian character named Philaenis.) Waga mi ni tadoru himegimi () (The Princess in Search of Herself). Author unknown. c.1259-1276. (A passage in volume 6 describes a former priestess and her lady-in-waiting having sex.)
1700-1799
Fanny Hill. By John Cleland. 1748. (Fanny has an encounter with Phoebe, a prostitute) La Religieuse. By Denis Diderot. 1796. (A Reverend Mother wants to seduce a nun.) L'Espion Anglais. 1778.
1800-1899
Mademoiselle Maupin. By Théophile Gautier. 1835. (A fiction work inspired by Julie d'Aubigny, who had relationships with both women and men.) La Fille aux yeux d'or. By Honoré de Balzac. 1835. Carmilla. By Sheridan Le Fanu. 1872. Der Liebe Lust und Leid der Frau zur Frau. Author unknown. 1895. (The only known exemplar is in the Berlin State Library (RVKO number Yx 27911)).Dobler, Jens: "Der Liebe Lust und Leid der Frau zur Frau. Ein wiederentdeckter Lesbenroman von 1895". Online-Projekt Lesbengeschichte Nana. By Émile Zola. 1880. (An extended description of Chez Laure, a Parisian restaurant that caters to a lesbian clientele; the relationship of Nana and the unfaithful Satin, "with her blue eyes and schoolgirlish look", "bitten and beaten and torn this way and that by the two women".) Mademoiselle Giraud, My Wife. By Adolphe Belot. 1891. Phoenixes Flying Together (), by Cheng Huiying (程蕙英). 1899.
1900-1949
Sind es Frauen? Roman über das dritte Geschlecht. By Minna Wettstein-Adelt. 1901. God of Vengeance. By Sholem Asch. 1906. (A Yiddish play where a married woman falls in love with a prostitute her father is pimping out. First lesbian kiss on an American theater stage.) Thirty-Three Abominations. By Lydia Zinovieva-Annibal. 1907. The Rainbow. By D. H. Lawrence. 1915. (In the chapter "Shame", Ursula has an affair with another woman, Winifred.) 花物語 (Hana Monogatari, "Flower Tales"). By Nobuko Yoshiya. 1916–1925. (Short stories.) Regiment of Women. By Winifred Ashton (under the pseudonym Clemence Dane. 1917. The Scorpion. Anna Elisabet Weirauch. 1919. (1930) (1931)English translation by Whittaker Chambers () 屋根裏の二處女 (Yaneura no Nishojo, "Two Virgins in the Attic"). By Nobuko Yoshiya. 1920. The Bachelor Girl. By Victor Margueritte. 1922. Freundinnen. By Maximiliane Ackers. 1923.a German reprint Anja und Esther (play). By Klaus Mann. 1925. The Captive (play). By Edouard Bourdet. 1926. (Tragedy of a young woman who falls into a twisted relationship with another woman.) Vestal Fire. By Compton Mackenzie. 1927. (Male main character is invited on a trip to Capri by a lesbian couple, Miss Virginia and Maimie Pepworth-Norton.) The Well of Loneliness. By Radclyffe Hall. 1928. (Subject of an obscenity trial that banned the book in the United Kingdom until 1949, though "there are no descriptions of sex in it, no rude words, and the lesbian lovers do not live happily ever after".)Jeanette Winterson, The Times, 1997. Ladies Almanack. By Djuna Barnes. 1928. Orlando: A Biography. By Virginia Woolf. 1928. Extraordinary Women. By Compton Mackenzie. 1928. Paying Guests. By E. F. Benson. 1929. (The happy ending revolves around a lesbian and a bisexual moving in together after the bisexual rejects a marriage proposal from a man.) Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy. By Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz. 1931. (A lesbian character has an affair with her father's wife. The wife eventually marries the main character, but there is no question of the lesbian feeling any sentiments towards a man.) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. By Gertrude Stein. 1933. (One of Stein's more accessible works. Others, whose lesbian content may not be apparent to the uninformed reader, include As a Wife Has a Cow: A Love Story and Lifting Belly.) The Child Manuela. By Christa Winsloe. 1933.English translation by Whittaker Chambers () The Children's Hour (play). By Lillian Hellman. 1934. We Too Are Drifting. By Gale Wilhelm. 1935. Nightwood. By Djuna Barnes. 1936. Lulu. By Alban Berg. 1937. Young Man with a Horn. By Dorothy Baker. 1938. (Amy has a relationship with the singer Josephine Jordan.) Torchlight to Valhalla. By Gale Wilhelm. 1938. The Friendly Young Ladies. By Mary Renault. 1943. Two Serious Ladies. By Jane Bowles. 1943. No Exit. By Jean-Paul Sartre. 1944. (Inès Serrano, a lesbian, is sent to Hell for murder.)
1950-1999
Women's Barracks. By Tereska Torres. 1950. (Credited as the first US paperback-original bestseller. Its popularity prompted the formation of the House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials in the United States.) Spring Fire. By Marijane Meaker (as Vin Packer). 1952. Le Rempart des Béguines. By Françoise Mallet-Joris. 1952. (Helene, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, is seduced by her father's mistress, Tamara.) The Price of Salt. By Patricia Highsmith (under the pseudonym "Claire Morgan" before 1990). 1952. (Considered the first lesbian novel with a 'happy ending'; basis for the 2015 film Carol.) The Tree and the Vine. By Dola de Jong. 1954. (Portrays a reckless political journalist and a quiet woman in love in Amsterdam, in the years leading up to WWII.) Chocolates for Breakfast. By Pamela Moore. 1956. (Portrays the bond between the protagonist Courtney Farrell and her boarding school teacher Miss Rosen, and the backlash against them from other teachers and students.) Odd Girl Out, I Am a Woman, Women in the Shadows, Journey to a Woman, and Beebo Brinker (a.k.a. The Beebo Brinker Chronicles), Ann Bannon (1957–1962) The Girls in 3-B. By Valerie Taylor. 1959. Cassandra at the Wedding. Dorothy Baker. 1962. The Group. By Mary McCarthy. 1962. Winter Love. By Han Suyin. 1962. The Killing of Sister George. By Frank Marcus. 1963. (Basis for the 1968 film The Killing of Sister George (1968).) Desert of the Heart. By Jane Rule. 1964. (Basis for the 1985 film Desert Hearts.) From Doon with Death. By Ruth Rendell. 1964. The_Man_from_C.A.M.P.. By Victor J. Banis writing as "Don Holliday". 1966. (The gang the main character is investigating is headed by a lesbian nicknamed Big Daddy.) The Microcosm. By Maureen Duffy. 1966. Applesauce by June Arnold. 1966. A Compass Error. By Sybille Bedford. 1968. Patience and Sarah. By Isabel Miller. 1969. The Female Man. By Joanna Russ. 1970. Rubyfruit Jungle. By Rita Mae Brown. 1973. Loving Her. By Ann Allen Shockley. 1974. (Openly features a black lesbian protagonist and an interracial lesbian relationship. Widely considered to be the first published African-American lesbian literature.) Lover. By Bertha Harris. 1976. Cytherea's Breath. By Sarah Aldridge. 1976. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. By Audre Lorde. 1982. (A biomythography, or autobiographical novel interweaving mythical and historical elements.) The Color Purple. By Alice Walker. 1982. Toothpick House. By Lee Lynch. 1983. Curious Wine. By Katherine V. Forrest. 1983. Daughters of a Coral Dawn. By Katherine V. Forrest. 1984. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. By Jeanette Winterson. 1985. (A fictionalized autobiography; a coming-of-age story. Follows a lesbian girl raised in an English Pentecostal church. Included in the GCSE and A-Level reading lists for England and Wales.) Mohawk Trail. By Beth Brant. 1985. (This collection of stories, poems, and anecdotes about families connected by blood, gayness, and poverty.) Mousson de femmes (Monsoon of Women). By Elula Perrin. 1985. The Swashbuckler. By Lee Lynch. 1985. Lesbian Body. By Monique Wittig. 1986. The Riverhouse Stories. By Andrea Carlisle. 1986 (Republished 2026). Say Jesus and Come to Me. By Ann Allen Shockley. 1986. Memory Board. By Jane Rule. 1987. Trash. By Dorothy Allison. 1988. The Child Garden. By Geoff Ryman. 1989. (This work by a gay male author features a lesbian protagonist. Winner of Arthur C. Clarke Award.) July Nights and Other Stories. By Jane Eaton Hamilton. 1991. Touchwood. By Karin Kallmaker. 1991. The Gilda Stories. By Jewelle Gomez. 1991. Ammonite. By Nicola Griffith. 1991. Send My Roots Rain. By Ibis Gómez-Vega. 1991. Six of One. By Rita Mae Brown. 1991 Aquamarine. By Carol Anshaw. 1993. Bastard Out of Carolina. By Dorothy Allison. 1993. Stone Butch Blues. By Leslie Feinberg. 1993. (A fictionalized autobiography portraying working-class butch-femme culture, following a butch main character.) Chelsea Girls. By Eileen Myles. 1994. Empire of Dreams. By Giannina Braschi. 1994. Written on the Body. By Jeanette Winterson. 1994. Hadra. By Diana Rivers. 1995. Flashpoint. By Katherine V. Forrest. 1995. Slow River. By Nicola Griffith. 1995. Along the Journey River. By Carole LaFavor. 1996. Fall on Your Knees. By Ann-Marie MacDonald. 1996 Memory Mambo. By Achy Obejas. 1996. Living at Night. By Mariana Romo Carmona. 1997. Sweet Bitter Love. By Rita Schiano. 1997 The Passion. By Jeanette Winterson. 1997. Working Parts. By Lucy Jane Bledsoe. 1997. Hood. By Emma Donoghue. 1998. Don't Explain: Short Fiction. By Jewelle Gomez. 1998. (Short stories.) Coachella. By Sheila Ortiz Taylor. 1998. Summer Sisters. By Judy Blume. 1998. Like. By Ali Smith. 1998. The Hours. By Michael Cunningham. 1998. (A tribute to Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, the novel depicts lesbian characters in the 1940s and 1990s.) Kissing the Witch. By Emma Donoghue. 1999.
2000-present
Stirfry. By Emma Donoghue. 2000. Doc and Fluff: The Dystopian Tale of a Girl and Her Biker. By Pat Califia. 2000. Tipping the Velvet. By Sarah Waters. 2000. Gun Shy. By Lori L. Lake. 2001. The World Unseen. By Shamim Sarif, 2001. (Portrays a relationship between conformist Miriam and rebellious Amina in South Africa.) Fingersmith. By Sarah Waters. 2002. Affinity. By Sarah Waters. 2002. Hotel World. By Ali Smith. 2002. Love Ruins Everything. By Aren X. Tulchinsky. 2002. The Wanderground. By Sally Miller Gearhart. 2002. Hunger. By Jane Eaton Hamilton. 2002. Fire Logic. By Laurie J. Marks. 2002. (And the remainder of the Elemental Logic series, which contain depictions of same-sex relationships.) Garis Tepi Seorang Lesbian. By Herlinatiens. 2003. The Salt Roads. By Nalo Hopkinson. 2003. Love and Other Ruins. By Aren X. Tulchinsky. 2003. Maybe Next Time. By Karin Kallmaker. 2003. Southland. By Nina Revoyr. 2003. Crybaby Butch. By Judith Frank. 2004. Love's Masquerade. By Radclyffe. 2004. Celebrating Hotchclaw. By Ann Allen Shockley. 2005. (Latest novel as of 2005 by noted novelist Shockley. Covers the inner workings of an HBCU with a lesbian plot.) Desert Blood. By Alicia Gaspar de Alba. 2005. Bliss. By Fiona Zedde. 2005. The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky. By Aren X. Tulchinsky. 2005. Daughters of an Emerald Dusk. By Katherine V. Forrest. 2005. The Walls of Westernfort. By Jane Fletcher's. 2005. Life Mask. By Emma Donoghue. 2005. The Empress and the Acolyte. By Jane Fletcher's. 2005. Fresh Tracks. By Georgia Beers. 2006. Of Drag Kings and the Wheel of Fate. By Susan "Smitty" Smith. 2006. Sword of the Guardian. By Merry Shannon. 2006.