Home › Lesbian Books › Lesbian Memoirs
True stories of lesbian lives, from 1950s New York to Hasidic Brooklyn.
5 memoirs · 2 graphic memoirs · 2 with full LRR reviews · subjects listed for each
The best lesbian memoirs are Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. For a recent lesbian memoir book about faith and leaving, Kissing Girls on Shabbat by Sara Glass is unforgettable.
Memoirs are true stories, and some of these cover hard ground: abuse, religious pressure and a parent’s death. Each card says what the book is about and what form it takes.
Two have full LRR reviews. The others are researched picks from publisher descriptions.
Lesbian Memoirs at a Glance
| Book | Author | Form | What it is about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zami: A New Spelling of My Name | Audre Lorde | Biomythography | Growing up Black and lesbian in 1950s New York |
| Fun Home | Alison Bechdel | Graphic memoir | Coming out and a closeted father |
| In the Dream House | Carmen Maria Machado | Experimental memoir | Abuse in a queer relationship |
| Kissing Girls on Shabbat | Sara Glass | Memoir | Loving women inside Hasidic Brooklyn |
| Pregnant Butch | A. K. Summers | Graphic memoir | Being butch and pregnant |
The Best Lesbian Memoirs
Five true stories, two of them graphic memoirs.
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
Audre Lorde · 1982
Lorde called it a biomythography: her own life from a Harlem childhood through the lesbian bars and loves of 1950s New York, told with a novelist’s freedom.
Lyrical, frank and foundational. The highest-scored book on this page and the best answer to anyone looking for Black lesbian memoirs.
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Fun Home
Alison Bechdel · 2006
Bechdel draws her childhood in a funeral home, her own coming out in college, and the discovery that her father was a closeted gay man who died soon after.
Funny, sad and very smart. It became a Tony-winning musical. If you only read one graphic memoir, make it this one.
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In the Dream House
Carmen Maria Machado · Graywolf · 2019
Machado tells the story of an abusive relationship with another woman in short chapters, each framed by a different genre: haunted house, choose-your-own-adventure and more.
A landmark book about abuse in queer relationships, which is still rarely written about. Brilliant and hard.
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Kissing Girls on Shabbat
Sara Glass · 2025
Sara Glass grew up in the Gur Hasidic community in Brooklyn, married young and spent years hiding her love for women before she left with her children.
Frank, fast and often devastating. The prose is plain, and that suits the story.
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Pregnant Butch
A. K. Summers · 2014
Teek, a resolutely butch lesbian, gets pregnant with her femme girlfriend Vee beside her, in a world that expects pregnancy to be ultra-feminine.
Funny and sharp, down to the question of whether suspenders count as maternity wear. Based on the author’s own pregnancy.
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Memoir, Novel or Poetry?
A memoir is a true story, even when it borrows the tools of fiction like Zami or plays with form like In the Dream House. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson is often shelved here, but it is an autobiographical novel. For poems, see our lesbian poetry books.
Hard subjects
Memoirs do not soften real life. These books include abuse, homophobia, religious pressure and family death. The cards say what each one is about so you can choose when you are ready for it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best lesbian memoirs?
Zami by Audre Lorde, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado.
What are good Black lesbian memoirs?
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde is the essential one.
Are there lesbian graphic memoirs?
Yes. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Pregnant Butch by A. K. Summers.
Is In the Dream House a novel?
No. It is a memoir, written in short experimental chapters.
Is there a lesbian memoir about leaving religion?
Kissing Girls on Shabbat by Sara Glass, about leaving the Gur Hasidic community.
Related Genres and Guides
For poetry by Audre Lorde, see lesbian poetry books. For history, lesbian love history books. For true-to-life fiction, try lesbian historical fiction.
How We Chose These Books
This selection uses our own full reviews wherever LRR has reviewed a book, plus author and publisher descriptions where a specific trope needs direct support. Every card says why the book fits this exact trope. Cards marked “LRR full review” link to a review where we went through Goodreads, StoryGraph, trade reviews and reader discussion before scoring it. Cards marked “Publisher description” or “Author description” are researched picks that we have not reviewed yet, and we say so rather than pretend otherwise. Ending notes come from our review or from an explicit promise in the book’s own description. Theme notes are not complete content warnings.
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