The Rec League: F/F Historical Romances

The Rec League - heart shaped chocolate resting on the edge of a very old bookThis Rec League came to us via Katelyn Riley on Twitter! Thanks, Katelyn!

Shana: I mean, I have to start with Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure, which I am so obsessed with I’ve bought for multiple people.

Claudia: Proper English by KJ Charles ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), origin story of two characters seen in Think Of England. Edwardian period, house party with a dash of murder — what more could anyone want?

And not a book but I strongly recommend Gentleman Jack on HBO — it’s fantastic!

Shana: The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin by Colette Moody – queer pirates in the 1700s.

Two older historical westerns that I will love forever are And Love Came Calling by Beverly Shearer ( A | BN ) and Yellowthroat by Penny Hayes ( A | BN ).

Backwards to Oregon
A | BN | K | AB
Backwards to Oregon by Jae, about a couple on Oregon trail, involves cross-dressing, which is my personal catnip in a historical

Tara: Shana, I want to high five all your recs so far. Mrs Martin’s Incomparable Adventure had me laughing so hard that I was weeping. Backwards to Oregon is amazing and so is the follow up, Hidden Truths ( A | BN | K | AB ), and I don’t even typically like westerns

Colette Moody also has one that take place in the 1930s called The Seduction of Moxie, which is like a screwball comedy with all the sexual innuendo you can handle. Hot tip: you can get a bundle with all three of her books on Amazon for less than $8, which is ridiculous for lesfic.

The Seduction of Moxie
A | BN | K | AB
Aarya: Seconding (thirding?) Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure and Proper English. I love Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure so much. It’s the perfect book to read if you want to experience cathartic rage and watch two queer old ladies set fire to the patriarchy. And there’s also cheesy toast!

I reviewed Proper English for SBTB and said that it was a “wonderful Edwardian House Party Murder Mystery and an adorable f/f historical romance.”

Another rec is A Lady’s Desire by Lily Maxton ( A ). It’s a novella featuring childhood friends-to-lovers and they’re reunited after one of them becomes a widow. I read it recently and wanted to explore more of Maxton’s backlist immediately (she doesn’t have any more historical f/f, unfortunately).

And of course, I highly recommend That Could Be Enough by Alyssa Cole, originally published in the Hamilton’s Battalion anthology but now available as a standalone. Cole is one of my favorite authors and I think my heart grew three sizes while reading this post-Revolutionary War historical (one of the heroines is a maid to Eliza Hamilton). I own this anthology in print, which tells you how much I love it because I never buy in print!

That Could Be Enough
A | BN | K | AB
Tara: The Covert Captain: Or, A Marriage of Equals by Jeannelle M. Ferreira ( A ) is a Regency romance between a woman who’s been passing as a man for years and years, and was a celebrated cavalryman at Waterloo. She falls for her best friend’s spinster sister and, well, angst ensues when the sister finds out that the man she’s in love with is a woman. Definitely woman passing, not trans.

The Escape Artist by Judith Katz ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is more literary fiction with strong romantic elements, and it has a prostitute and a street magician getting together in 1910s Buenos Aires. Really beautifully written, but content warning because the lead is basically lured to Buenos Aires by someone she thinks she’s going to marry and he hands her over to his sister, who runs the brothel.

Alaskan Bride by D. Jordan Redhawk ( A | BN | G | AB ) is super freaking good. A woman in post-Civil War Boston agrees to be a mail order bride for a trapper in Alaska, but he dies before she arrives. Instead of turning around and heading home, she decides to show his crabby sister that she’ll be the best roommate she’s ever had. Love eventually ensues. I adore this book.

The Locket and the Flintlock
A | BN | K | AB
The Locket and the Flintlock by Rebecca S. Buck has a woman who’s robbed by highwaymen determined to get her locket back. When she finds them, she discovers that their leader is a woman. I haven’t read this one in about 5 years, but I remember enjoying it quite a bit.

Also, I don’t know if it’s cool to plug someone else, but I highly recommend that anyone interested in f/f historical romance follow Heather Rose Jones everywhere you can. Not only is she writing her own awesome historical fantasy books, but she reviews f/f historicals on her website, she has a podcast where she interviews authors and shares interesting facts about lesbians in history, and she has a massive ongoing project called The Lesbian Historic Motif Project. Want to know about historic lesbian relationships or women cross-dressing throughout history? She has all that and way more there.

Shana: I can already tell that this thread will be dangerous for my TBR pile.

Amanda: It is definitely a workplace hazard.

Tara: I stopped because these are the ones I can glowingly, personally recommend. I have a bunch more that I either liked, but didn’t necessarily adore, and then even more that I’ve been meaning to read forever and just haven’t gotten to yet.

Amanda: Yeah the Rec Leagues are more “we loved these and would recommend them to you” versus “I think these books has this thing.”

Tara: Yeah, the ones I’ve mentioned definitely fit, although it feels sacrilegious not to mention Radclyffe’s Innocent Hearts ( A | BN | K | AB ) because it’s SO loved by everyone else I know that’s read it. I just haven’t gotten there yet.

Amanda: I’ll include it as a very honorable mention!

Tara: Hooray! Thank you!

Sneezy: Ms. Martin, come through!!

A Little Light Mischief
A | BN | K | AB
Aarya: Disclaimer: I am friendly with the author, but I just want to give a shout out to Cat Sebastian’s A Little Light Mischief, a f/f Regency novella coming out on August 6. Like Olivia Waite’s recent book (which inspired this week’s Rec League), it’s being published by Avon. There’s bedsharing at a house party, a formerly thieving lady’s maid, jewelry heist, revenge on evil men, and lots of warm fuzzies. No angst whatsoever. And it has one of the most beautiful covers I’ve seen in a long time.

Claudia: Is it connected to Sebastian’s current series?

Aarya: It’s an offshoot of the Turner series (not the current series) and you see some familiar characters.

Tara: I got all excited about that book and went to preorder it only to see that I already did. Thanks Past Tara!

Susan: Passing Strange by Ellen Klages is historical fabulist romance set around the 1940 World Fair in San Francisco, with a romance between a pulp artist and a drag performer! It has queer friendships and a tiny touch of magic too, I loved it. Although I will say caution warnings for spousal abuse (not between the leads), police harassment, historical homophobia and racism, and non-graphic suicide

I’d be tempted to recommend Heather Rose Jones’ Ruritanian historical fantasy series, Alpennia, but did she say that they’re specifically NOT romances?

Tara: Yeah, I’m pretty sure she does. I’ve only read the first one and while I adored the romance, it was an element rather than the main event.

Susan: That’s what I thought. Thank you, Tara!

Which lesbian historical romances would you recommend? Sorry to your TBR pile!

Comments are Closed

  1. Lora says:

    Finger Smith by Sarah Watters!
    It’s a dual pov dickensian-style mystery with massive romantic elements (I would call it a compelling, mind twisty romance). There’s a gorgeous film adaptation starring Sally Hawkins as well.

  2. Julia aka mizzelle says:

    Nicola Davidson’s My Lady’s Lover – part of her Surrey Sexual Freedom Society series and available on Kindle Unlimited.

  3. Lucy says:

    I second @Lora’s Fingersmith recommendation! I’d also recommend Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet (cross-dressing and class tensions and self-discovery in Edwardian England, with music hall performances!) and The Paying Guests, a delicious twist on the 1920s murder mystery. One of the romantic protagonists is bi (or at least I read her that way) but the romance is f/f.

    I’d also recommend Lydia Perovic’s Incidental Music, with narratives in 1950s Hungary, 1970s (?) Yugoslavia, and 1990s(ish?) Toronto.

  4. Wendy says:

    For women of a certain age, Michelle Martin’s Pembroke Park (1986) was our first f/f historical (Regency).

  5. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    @Lucy & @Lora beat me to Sarah Waters, but I’d also recommend my favorite of her books, THE NIGHT WATCH, which is set during WWII and is told in reverse-chronological order. There are several relationships in the book, one of them is f/f. Waters’s books are very entertaining, meaty, and full of solid historical detail.

  6. HeatherT says:

    My immediate thought was Sarah Waters. THE SUFFRAGETTE SCANDAL by Courtney Milan also has a secondary character f/f romance — plus it’s one of my favorite books in the history of ever.

  7. Cathy Pegau says:

    Olivia Waite’s The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics is a lovely, lovely read. Lots of great recs here that I have loved (OMG Sarah Waters is a MASTER of worldbuilding and blending in details without info dumping), and some new ones that will break my wallet : )
    Thanks for this!

  8. I. Simon says:

    HOW TO TALK TO NICE ENGLISH GIRLS by Gretchen Evans is set post WWI and features a brash American girl seducing a reserved English lady and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s available on kindle unlimited right now if you have an account.

  9. Katelyn R says:

    YAY– thank you, Bitches!! If you need me, I’ll be the one with my head buried in my Kindle. <3

  10. ShellyE says:

    I just won The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics in a goodreads giveaway, I’m excited to read it!

  11. HeatherS says:

    Has anyone read the sequel to Radclyffe’s “Innocent Hearts”, “Promising Hearts”? Radclyffe has written so many books, but I’m not keen on medical or romantic suspense/mystery plot lines, so I was stumped on where to start with her books. I think the Prairie Hearts series looks more up my alley!

    I also preordered Cat Sebastian’s “A Little Light Mischief” as soon as it was announced. Olivia Waite’s book is on my Kindle app, I just haven’t read it yet.

    Oh, and I also have Radclyffe’s (writing as L.L. Raand) “Midnight Hunters” series, which I think I am saving until October so it feels like the right time of year for the spooky of it all. And pretty much everything Melissa Brayden has written is sitting on my TBR shelf.

  12. Elia Winters says:

    I love these recommendations! Thanks for all this great work. And a small note: as a bisexual woman, I’d love if we could call them “F/F historical romances” instead of “lesbian historical romances,” if the main distinction is that they’re F/F. Thanks!

  13. HeatherS says:

    @Elia Winters: Holla from one bi girl to another! Also, super valid point that I am glad you brought up. Not all WLW are lesbians.

  14. Amanda says:

    @Elia Winters: Done! It’s so interesting because I’m a bi woman, but felt that when I was with a man, people see it as a heterosexual relationship. If I’m with a woman, it was a lesbian relationship. But that could very well be my own internalized bi-erasure and language is always evolving. Unfortunately, when you embrace a queer identity, you don’t get a handy glossary and brochure, so it’s a learning process!

  15. cleo says:

    Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller is a lovely ff romance set in early America in Connecticut and upstate NY. It has perhaps my favorite queering of the chicks in pants trope. It was written in the seventies but holds up well.

    The True Queen by Zen Cho is set in an alt regency England with magic and magicians. The romance between a Malaysian woman and English magician is low key and lovely.

  16. cleo says:

    @Amanda. I don’t know that there’s an accepted convention. I’m also a bi woman and I tend to think that since I’m with a man I’m in a straight relationship and if I were with a woman wed be in a lesbian relationship and if I were with an NB person we’d be in a queer relationship. Although all of my relationships are queer since I am queer. Even my relationship with my straight husband. Language is so confusing.

    That said ff is more accurate and descriptive. As is wlw or woman loving woman.

  17. Lisa F says:

    *parks self here*

    I have a lot of emotions about f/f historicals being released here (I’ll be talking about that in a guest squee review coming up).

  18. Tara Scott says:

    @amanda & cleo As a bi woman married to a dude, I’m a much bigger fan of f/f or wlw, but I do use “lesbian romance” or “lesfic” with people who tend to mostly read that because it’s what they’re familiar with. Or I’ll use a blend. For my personal life and my marriage, however, I say that I’m in an opposite-sex marriage because his sexual orientation doesn’t reflect on or impact mine and it’s the term we’re both most comfortable with. If I were with a woman, I’d flip it and say I were in a same-sex relationship. I’d probably just say queer if I were with someone nonbinary, too.

  19. Vasha says:

    Speaking of Heather Rose Jones, her delightful historical (1678) short story, “The Mazarinette and the Musketeer,” is free.

  20. Lace says:

    Spring Flowering, by Farah Mendlesohn. Set mostly in Birmingham and very historical, versus moderns in fancy dress.

  21. Elia Winters says:

    @Amanda thanks so much! And thanks for this list. My TBR is a terrifying monstrosity that grows ever larger, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

  22. Shana says:

    @cleo Thank you for mentioning Patience and Sarah! How could I have forgotten how much I loved that novel?!?!?!

  23. Hydecat says:

    I second Pembroke Park. It’s like Jane Austen crossed with KJ Charles.

  24. Kass says:

    Jae’s Oregon Trail series is not my favourite, but I loved her SHAKEN TO THE CORE. The romance (different classes, friends to lovers) has the 1906 San Francisco earthquake as background. Meaning: f/f romance + history + catastrophe. Catnip for me.

  25. Cathy Pegau says:

    Just wanted to add Tell it to the Bees by Fiona Shaw to the list. 1950’s, set in England. Not always a cheery story, but the WLW romance is satisfying.
    And a warning that apparently the recent movie version changes the ending, and not for the best :/

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