Sarah L. Hawthorn’s debut puts two runaway sisters in an 1861 Nova Scotia lighthouse with a devil’s bargain and a sapphic shipwreck survivor. Atmospheric and gutsy, but slow to get going.
Is The Girl from the Sea by Lee Knox Ostertag worth reading? Our review of the sapphic selkie graphic novel — the 1/5 heat, the rushed romance, and the bittersweet ending.
Updated on October 9, 2026 Verdict: A warm, funny, genuinely moving Southern classic with one of fiction’s most beloved sapphic couples at its heart, held back by a love story it never names and racial writing that has aged badly. Best for: Readers who want a character-driven small-town saga with a coded but unmistakable love … Read more
Updated on October 9, 2026 Verdict: The 1957 lesbian pulp novel that taught a generation of women they were not alone, still emotionally true on the page, let down by plain, head-hopping prose and a love story that hands the girl to the man. Best for: Readers who want to hold a piece of lesbian … Read more
Updated on October 9, 2026 Verdict: A tender, meticulously drawn true story of two women who built a 44-year life together in early Vermont, held back only by a slow first act and a crowded cast that is hard to tell apart on the page. Best for: Readers who want queer history told with patience … Read more
Updated on October 9, 2026 Verdict: A funny, folklore-soaked quest through Iron Age Britain with a goddess of death who is terrible at being human, undercut by a thin second lead and an ending that romance readers need to know about before they start. Best for: Readers who want Welsh myth, a fish-out-of-water heroine and … Read more
Verdict: The modern gold standard of sapphic yearning — a restrained, painterly 18th-century love story that turns looking itself into romance. Slow by design, devastating on purpose. Best for: Viewers who want historical pining, the reciprocal female gaze, and an ending that quietly wrecks you rather than a fast-paced plot. Heat level: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5 — … Read more