For LGBT+ History Month, we’ve picked out some of the most groundbreaking books in the LGBT+ canon to read this February…
1. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Originally published in 1928, the legacy of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando still resonates today. It’s a biography of a made-up character, Orlando, inspired by Woolf’s real-life friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West.
It’s a sweeping story spanning 400 years, which sees the poet Orlando born as a male before mysteriously changing sex and living as a woman for 300 more years. It’s still celebrated as a landmark LGBT+ and feminist story, sparking many retellings – including, most famously, a 1992 film adaptation starring Tilda Swinton.
Fashion designer Harris Reed, author of Fluid: A Fashion Revolution, told PA Media: "Orlando changed my life. Seeing their gender exploration in that film and [in Virginia Woolf’s book] – that blew the roof off of anything I’ve ever seen. It made me question gender, made me question identity."
2. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Giovanni’s Room is often seen as loosely based on James Baldwin’s own life, after he left America to live in Paris. It follows David, who meets an Italian bartender named Giovanni in a Parisian gay bar. The two begin a passionate love affair – until David’s girlfriend returns, and he has to pretend like nothing ever happened.
Published in 1956, its depiction of homosexuality was controversial at the time, later becoming a seminal novel in the LGBT+ canon.
In 2019, writer Hilton Als revisited Giovanni’s Room in The New York Times. He summed up the legacy of the book: "Today, when a great many arguments and complaints from the queer quarters of the political sphere have to do with what has been done to queerness by the patriarchy and by whiteness, Baldwin asks, in Giovanni’s Room, what love looks like, ultimately, when we leave all those bags at the door – and if we can."
3. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
A Single Man follows a day in the life of George, an Englishman living in 1960s America who is mourning the loss of his lover, Jim. He tries to follow a normal day’s routine, but grapples with tidal waves of grief and loss – making for a poignant read that will stay with you, long after you put the book down.
You might be familiar with this powerful story if you saw the 2009 screen adaptation starring Colin Firth. Fashion designer Tom Ford directed the movie, and told Collider why he was drawn to the book. "One of the things that I always loved about his writing was the matter-of-fact way that he treated homosexuality. Most of his stories and novels were autobiographical, and so there’s usually a gay character but that’s not the centre of the story," he said.
"The gay character is portrayed as a human being who lives a life, and the relationship between George and Jim, I felt that it was very important to depict that in a very matter-of-fact way, that they were just really two people who were in love with each other. I wanted this not to be a gay story or a straight story, but to be a human story. I think the more we see that and realise that love between people is love between two people that the better off we’ll all be for that."
4. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Color Purple needs little introduction, particularly after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983. Told through a series of letters, it follows Celie, who takes us through her abusive childhood in rural Georgia through to adulthood. There is a cast of characters all intertwining, but one of the most moving relationships is between Celie and a singer called Shug – the two become lovers, and the experience helps Celie become more in tune with her body, learning how to enjoy sex.
The book has become known for its many stage and screen adaptations, which don’t always portray the sexual nature of Celie and Shug’s relationship. This isn’t the case in the most recent musical adaptation starring Taraji P Henson and Danielle Brooks – and author Walker has expressed her approval.
On the release of the film, she told The Hollywood Reporter: "I really love it that [audiences] have to take away the reality that Shug and Celie become lovers, because I think that we have really needed help there. We really needed to see that love is love. You know, that people love whoever they love, and it is their right to do that."
5. Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo
Antiguan-born Barry is the titular Mr Loverman of Bernardine Evaristo’s 2013 classic. Stuck in a loveless marriage with his wife Carmel in East London, Barry is a snappily dressed autodidact who’s been in a secret relationship with his best friend, Morris, since they were teenagers.
Now in his 70s, Barry would be happy living a lie – but as his marriage melts down and Morris wants more, he has to make a change. It’s funny and real, diving into whether Barry is able to break away from society’s expectations and live as fully himself. He struggles with internalised homophobia – refusing to identify as homosexual, but instead proclaiming himself ‘Barrysexual’, with his signature wit in an attempt to deflect from the real issues at hand.
