Lesbian literature had come a long way since the days when the poetry of Sappho and underground novels like Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness were among the few widely available options. Still, anyone on the hunt for the best LGBTQIA+ audiobooks knows that it can still be challenging to find stories centred on lesbian characters and experiences.
We’ve compiled some of the best audiobook adaptations of lesbian books across fiction and non-fiction with one common factor: All of these selections are stories focused on lesbian characters, written by authors from the LGBTQIA+ community.
In this incredible novel, Patsy is thrilled when she’s finally granted a visa to the United States. She can finally leave her small Jamaican town and join her old friend and first love, Cicely. But it also means leaving behind her overbearing mother and her young daughter, Tru. And when Patsy arrives in New York, it’s not the new life she was expecting—she must survive as an undocumented immigrant working minimum-wage jobs. Meanwhile, Tru reconnects with her father in Jamaica and struggles with identity questions of her own. Sharon Gordon narrates this critically-acclaimed novel that is an absolute must-listen.
A remarkably honest and witty memoir, Jeanette Winterson’s Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a story of self-discovery and finding the courage to act on that discovery. While listening to this author-narrated tale, it’s easy to understand why Winterson is so revered as a significant literary figure. While her work spans memoir, fiction, and even hot takes on Shakespearean plays (The Gap of Time), her writing is united by its raw and truthful ways of telling on the human condition. Jeanette Winterson is one of the finest LGBT writers out there, and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is the Manchester icon at her very best.
Set in the early 1990s, The Miseducation of Cameron Post takes place in Montana, USA. It follows the adolescence of Cameron Post, a girl who is orphaned suddenly and must live with her religious Aunt Ruth. As she navigates the baffling worlds of grief and high school, she falls for her new best friend. But the excitement of a first love affair comes crashing down when the girls’ relationship is discovered. Cameron is sent to God’s Promise, a conversion camp for gay teens, where she learns the extent of adult hypocrisy. This brilliant novel, narrated by Beth Laufer, was a finalist for the YALSA Morris Award and is the basis of the award-winning indie film starring Chloë Grace Moretz.
This stunning memoir about love, identity, and domestic abuse is an absolute must-listen. Experimental in structure, Carmen Marie Machado’s short chapters, and various literary devices tell the story of her two years in graduate school when she fell for a beguiling woman who turned abusive. She reveals the emotional abuse and manipulation she endured while also analyzing why instances of domestic abuse between queer couples are rarely revealed or explored in literature. Machado narrates this mesmerizing work, an essential addition to the canon of queer memoirs. In the Dream House isn’t the easiest or simplest listen, but the main characters of Carmen Marie Machado’s tumultuous life will keep you engaged from start to finish.
The first book of queer author Celia Laskey, this poignant story set in Big Burr, Kansas unpacks what it means to be queer in a society that refuses you. Each voice is narrated by an entire cast and brings the individual and intertwining vignettes to life. Told with warmth and cutting wit, Under the Rainbow is a hopeful articulation of our complicated humanity and how we can learn to live with each other and ourselves. The very best LGBTQ+ books come with a healthy dollop of reality. Under the Rainbow is no different. Celia Laskey’s debut novel is a real must-listen.
Sarah Waters’s groundbreaking and best-selling novel, Fingersmith, focuses on Sue. The young woman was rescued as an orphan and brought up in an unconventional, crowded household of petty thieves. A con artist named Gentleman proposes that Sue get a job and ingratiate herself to the rich but sickly Maud Lilly, a gentlewoman who is naive to the streets that Sue grew up on. Sue is eager to help at first—she wants to repay her adoptive family by duping Maud out of her fortune—but the more she gets to know Maud, the harder she finds it to go through with their plan. Juanita McMahon narrates this story, which has inspired a film adaptation titled The Handmaiden.
Ash is Malinda Lo’s groundbreaking debut novel, a YA fantasy reimagining of Cinderella. The author narrates her story about an orphan named Ash, who dreams of escaping her terrible life with a cruel stepmother to live with the faeries in her tales. Then Ash meets Sidhean, a faerie who is willing to grant Ash’s wish— for a price. Along the way, Ash also encounters Kaisa, the king’s huntress, who treats her with unexpected kindness. Just as Ash realises she’s falling for Kaisa, her promises to Sidhean complicate her feelings, and Ash is left with a terrible choice: live out her dreams or stay with newfound but uncertain love.
While perhaps best known for her novel Room, Emma Donoghue has been making a name for herself in lesbian fiction for many years. Landing is just one of her many novels, a lighter story about a sophisticated Irish woman and a sheltered Canadian woman who find unexpected love and connection. Sile is a well-travelled flight attendant; Jude is an archivist and stubborn homebody. When their paths cross at Heathrow, their spark is immediate, but what follows is a tumultuous year of romancing, missed connections, and exploration as they try to figure out: Do they have what it takes to make it as a couple? Laura Hicks narrates the audiobook, deftly handling the multiple accents.
Performed by Audible Hall of Fame narrator Robin Miles, this is the powerful story of a young Nigerian woman, Ijeoma, who comes of age with her homeland in the late 1960s and is sent away as civil war breaks out. While displaced, she meets another young woman who becomes her friend, and then they fall in love. Not only does her love’s gender make their relationship impossible, but she’s also from a different ethnic community. Ijeoma must hide the part of herself that loves this woman if they’re to survive, but at what cost? Inspired by Nigerian folk tales and realities, Under the Udala Tree is a deeply affecting novel about culture, love, gender, and war. Winner of the Lambda Literary Award, it was also nominated for an NAACP Imagine Award.
The iconic pop duo (and twin sisters) Tegan and Sara Quin co-authored their debut memoir about their lives in high school in Calgary, Canada when they were first exploring their queer identities and began to shape the music that would make them famous. Taking turns in alternating chapters, Tegan and Sara reveal their high school experiences in the 1990s, from parental divorce to academic pressures to big questions about life and love. This audiobook is narrated by the authors and includes exclusive interviews and recordings from cassette tapes that Tegan and Sara found while researching their memoirs. It’s fascinating to listen for any Tegan and Sara fan and an extraordinary memoir of queer youth.
Written by the author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt has endured as a classic, even though it was first published as a lesbian pulp fiction novel under a pseudonym. It’s the story of Therese, a sales clerk making a small living in New York City at a fancy department store, and Carol, a housewife with wealth and status who is secretly divorcing her husband and engaged in a bitter custody battle for their young daughter. When the two meet, they’re immediately attracted to each other, but their romance has dire consequences. Part of what makes this novel such a milestone is that it’s the first lesbian novel without a tragic ending from its period. It’s also the basis of the movie Carol, starring Cate Blanchett. Cassandra Campbell narrates the audiobook.
Hilarious, heartwarming, and sexy as hell, this coming-of-age story turned sci-fi adventure is required listening for basically any queer. Any New York City queer person understands the particular type of longing only a subway crush can have on the psyche. Follow along as new-to-the-city August waits tables, moves in with too many roommates, and might fall in love with her train crush (who might not be what they seem). Author Casey McQuiston is known for their incredible romance writing, most notably their best-selling YA novel Red, White, and Royal Blue, which details the son of America’s first woman president falling for the prince of England. Yes, we love how McQuiston’s mind works too.
A Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, Alice Walker’s fabulous The Color Purple is fantastic as the hype suggests. The excellent Samira Wiley impactfully narrates the story of Celie’s difficult upbringing in rural Georgia, but the power of the story shines brightest. This is a love story with a difference. Wiley delivers Walker’s stunning rendition of fate and hope told through letters to God and a never-ending struggle for independence. The Color Purple is an international best seller that has since been adapted for the silver screen and Broadway. This audiobook adaptation is a complete triumph that you won’t want to miss.
There is confidence in this queer and lesbian fiction book that is utterly compelling. Sarah Waters tells a tremendous story from beginning to end, and Juanita McMahon’s narration of Tipping the Velvet lifts the whole thing to an entirely different level. The best lesbian books are page-turners, and this audiobook adaptation is an unpausable delight. Historical romance at its finest, Tipping the Velvet transcends generations, a coming-of-age lesbian romance novel that shimmers in audiobook form. The title? We aren’t going to say too much, but let’s just say that it is a specific slang from the book’s era. The book? Spellbinding. Sarah Waters knows exactly what she is doing.
Narrated by Anna Pacquin, Rubyfruit Jungle is one of the best lesbian books ever committed to paper. It stands to reason that this audio adaptation is one of the best lesbian listens ever committed to tape, and that assumption is correct. Pacquin’s narration of Rita Mae Brown’s compelling story is immensely impactful from the first second to the last, as young Molly Bolt struggles to stay faithful to herself in 1950s America. Molly’s life practically jumps out of the speakers throughout, an inspiration to all. A lesbian romance novel with a difference, Rubyfruit Jungle is a stunning listen, no matter the genre.
Julie Anne Peters has long forged a reputation as one of the best writers of YA books, and Keeping You a Secret is another excellent work to add to the catalogue. A high school romance with a difference, Keeping You a Secret sees super-popular student Holland Jaeger see her life turned upside down with the arrival of a new girl. Jaeger takes a shine to the newcomer, but what does that mean for her status? Her future? More importantly, what does it mean for her heart? A young adult lesbian romance novel with the best of them, Keeping You a Secret is tremendously narrated by Rebekah Levin, bringing the main characters to life with a truly infectious energy.
If the title doesn’t get you, the fantastic story will. A Netflix smash-hit in waiting, Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo tells the story of the titular character and a life spent in the spotlight. Of course, life in the spotlight often means that the truth gets hidden away, particularly when it comes to Evelyn Hugo’s love life. When the Hollywood icon sat down to write her memoirs with an unknown reporter, nobody could foresee the relationship blossoming. Brilliantly narrated by Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan, and Robert Miles, Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is one of the best lesbian books funnelled through the glitz, glamour, and grit of showbiz life.
