20 Best queer books like Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Cover of Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Fingersmith

By: Sarah Waters

4.02

Format: 592 pages, ebook

Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raise…

"You pearl!"

-Sarah Waters, Fingersmith

"PIGEON MY ARSE!"

-Sarah Waters, Fingersmith

"It's a curious, wanting thing."

-Sarah Waters, Fingersmith

"She said, 'It is filled with all the words for how I want you."

-Sarah Waters, Fingersmith

If you liked the queer plot in Fingersmith by Sarah Waters , here is a list of 20 books like this:

Cover of Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

1. Annie on My Mind

By: Nancy Garden

4.02

Format: 234 pages, Paperback

This groundbreaking book is the story of two teenage girls whose friendship blossoms into love and … read more

Similar categories in Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • queer
"Real, but sometimes beautiful."

-Nancy Garden, Annie on My Mind

"Don't let ignorance win', said Ms. Stevenson. 'Let love."

-Nancy Garden, Annie on My Mind

"And that's like my world." Annie pointed up to the stars again."Inaccecible."

-Nancy Garden, Annie on My Mind

"It’s terrible, … for us to have been so scared to be seen with books we have every right to read."

-Nancy Garden, Annie on My Mind

Cover of The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

2. The Well of Loneliness

By: Radclyffe Hall

4.35

Format: None pages, Paperback

First published in 1928, this timeless portrayal of lesbian love is now a classic. The thinly disgu… read more

Similar categories in Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • queer
Cover of Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

3. Last Night at the Telegraph Club

By: Malinda Lo

4.22

Format: 409 pages, Hardcover

A story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the Red Scare. “That book. It w… read more

Similar categories in Malinda Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • queer
"How am I supposed to know?"

-Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club

"As if summer had bloomed inside the club and wrapped her in its lazy heat"

-Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club

"She didn't understand the shrinking feeling inside her, as if she shouldn't be caught looking at those girls."

-Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club

"A few of them were already engaged to be married. When had everything changed? She felt as if it had been very sudden"

-Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Cover of Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown

4. Rubyfruit Jungle

By: Rita Mae Brown

3.68

Format: 191 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Bawdy and moving, the ultimate word-of-mouth bestseller, Rubyfruit Jungle is about growing up a les… read more

Similar categories in Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • lesbian
  • queer
  • fiction
  • lgbt
Cover of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

5. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

By: Jeanette Winterson

3.94

Format: 456 pages, Paperback

This startling novel describes the adolescence of a ferociously bright and rebellious orphan adopte… read more

Similar categories in Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • lesbian
  • queer
  • fiction
  • lgbt
Cover of Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

6. Fingersmith

By: Sarah Waters

4.02

Format: 592 pages, ebook

Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raise… read more

Similar categories in Sarah Waters's Fingersmith book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • gothic
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • queer
"You pearl!"

-Sarah Waters, Fingersmith

"PIGEON MY ARSE!"

-Sarah Waters, Fingersmith

"It's a curious, wanting thing."

-Sarah Waters, Fingersmith

"She said, 'It is filled with all the words for how I want you."

-Sarah Waters, Fingersmith

Cover of Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

7. Carmilla

By: J. Sheridan Le Fanu

3.86

Format: 108 pages, Paperback

In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her ailing… read more

Similar categories in J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • lesbian
  • gothic
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • queer
"Love will have its sacrifices. No sacrifice without blood."

-J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla

"You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever."

-J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla

"If your dear heart is wounded, my wild heart bleeds with yours."

-J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla

"Darling, darling. I live in you, and you would die for me. I love you so."

-J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla

8. Requiem for Immortals (The Law Game, #1)

By: Lee Winter

3.76

Format: None pages, Paperback

Professional cellist Natalya Tsvetnenko moves seamlessly among the elite where she fills the souls … read more

Similar categories in Lee Winter's Requiem for Immortals (The Law Game, #1) book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

Cover of Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest

9. Curious Wine

By: Katherine V. Forrest

3.89

Format: 160 pages, Paperback

The intimacy of a cabin at Lake Tahoe provides the combustible setting that brings Diana Holland an… read more

Similar categories in Katherine V. Forrest's Curious Wine book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • queer
Cover of The Price of Salt, or Carol by Patricia Highsmith, Claire  Morgan

10. The Price of Salt, or Carol

By: Patricia Highsmith , Claire Morgan

4.02

Format: 292 pages, Paperback

Patricia Highsmith's story of sexual obsession may be one of the most important, but still largely … read more

Similar categories in Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt, or Carol book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • queer
"She hated cleaning up after making something."

-Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt, or Carol

"Love was supposed to be a kind of blissful insanity."

-Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt, or Carol

"It always gets late with you. - Is that a compliment?"

-Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt, or Carol

"What else mattered except being with Carol, anywhere, anyhow?"

-Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt, or Carol

Cover of The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

11. The Miseducation of Cameron Post

By: Emily M. Danforth

4.07

Format: 485 pages, Kindle Edition

When Cameron Post's parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Reli… read more

Similar categories in Emily M. Danforth's The Miseducation of Cameron Post book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • queer
"Let's rock this shit."

-Emily M. Danforth, The Miseducation of Cameron Post

"It felt really good to do something that made no sense at all."

-Emily M. Danforth, The Miseducation of Cameron Post

"The afternoon my parents died, I was out shoplifting with Irene Klauson."

-Emily M. Danforth, The Miseducation of Cameron Post

"But I couldn't ever make that dream happen. It just came on its own, the way dreams do."

-Emily M. Danforth, The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Cover of Iris Kelly Doesn't Date (Bright Falls, #3) by Ashley Herring Blake

12. Iris Kelly Doesn't Date (Bright Falls, #3)

By: Ashley Herring Blake

4.14

Format: 400 pages, Kindle Edition

Everyone around Iris Kelly is in love. Her best friends are all coupled up, her siblings have partn… read more

Similar categories in Ashley Herring Blake's Iris Kelly Doesn't Date (Bright Falls, #3) book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

13. Cleat Cute

By: Meryl Wilsner

3.77

Format: 328 pages, Paperback

A sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two socce… read more

Similar categories in Meryl Wilsner's Cleat Cute book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • adult
  • queer
"Lesbian is important to me," Phoebe says. "The world likes to act like it's a porn category, not an identity. It took me a while to realize it wasn't. I want other girls like me to know it's a beauti…"

-Meryl Wilsner, Cleat Cute

Cover of Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

14. Our Wives Under the Sea

By: Julia Armfield

3.78

Format: 240 pages, Paperback

Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that ende… read more

Similar categories in Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • lesbian
  • gothic
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • adult
  • queer
"El océano profundo es una casa embrujada: un lugar donde se mueven en la oscuridad cosas que no deberían existir."

-Julia Armfield, Our Wives Under the Sea

"She refused almost every aspect of my help, the way women will when they've been bred to accept little more than the baset civility."

-Julia Armfield, Our Wives Under the Sea

"I don't know why I expected you to read my mind,' I say, when I call back to leave her a message, 'I was just doing what I always do, assuming the world revolves around me."

-Julia Armfield, Our Wives Under the Sea

"The space around us is a claw half grasped, holding tight without quite crushing, and I wish, in the idle way I always wish these days, that I felt more confident in my ability to breathe."

-Julia Armfield, Our Wives Under the Sea

Cover of This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

15. This Is How You Lose the Time War

By: Amal El-Mohtar

3.88

Format: 209 pages, Kindle Edition

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before … read more

Similar categories in Amal El-Mohtar's This Is How You Lose the Time War book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • adult
  • queer
"Atlantis sinks. Serves it right."

-Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War

"And everyone is alive, somewhere in time."

-Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War

"All the stars are eyes here, always seeking."

-Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War

"I would rather break the world than lose you."

-Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War

Cover of The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1) by Olivia Waite

16. The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1)

By: Olivia Waite

3.99

Format: 336 pages, ebook

As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover’s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It is… read more

Similar categories in Olivia Waite's The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1) book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • queer
"Even a love in mourning still had sparks in it."

-Olivia Waite, The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1)

"Moonlight silvered the long line of Lucy’s back as she sank to her knees—not submissively, as one conquered, but as a queen kneels at a coronation."

-Olivia Waite, The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1)

"Every other moon, sun, comet, planet, and star is itself a center, and extorts its own force upon all the rest. Nothing in the universe stands alone"

-Olivia Waite, The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1)

"You could never mistake the sound of true grief, once you had felt it yourself. It made the mettle of the soul ring in sympathy, like one bell softly chiming whenever its neighbor was struck."

-Olivia Waite, The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (Feminine Pursuits, #1)

Cover of Delilah Green Doesn't Care (Bright Falls, #1) by Ashley Herring Blake

17. Delilah Green Doesn't Care (Bright Falls, #1)

By: Ashley Herring Blake

4.08

Format: 375 pages, Paperback

A clever and steamy queer romantic comedy about taking chances and accepting love—with all its comp… read more

Similar categories in Ashley Herring Blake's Delilah Green Doesn't Care (Bright Falls, #1) book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • adult
  • queer
"And Delilah had gotten through life by putting herself first, only concentrating herself with what she knew was true, because she’d learned a long time ago that she couldn’t control anyone but hersel…"

-Ashley Herring Blake, Delilah Green Doesn't Care (Bright Falls, #1)

Cover of Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner

18. Mistakes Were Made

By: Meryl Wilsner

3.95

Format: 352 pages, Paperback

From the critically acclaimed author of Something To Talk About comes a sharp and sexy rom-com abou… read more

Similar categories in Meryl Wilsner's Mistakes Were Made book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • adult
  • queer
Cover of Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth

19. Sunburn

By: Chloe Michelle Howarth

4.33

Format: 288 pages, Paperback

Selected as an Evening Standard 'one to watch in 2023' It's the early 1990s, and in the Irish vi… read more

Similar categories in Chloe Michelle Howarth's Sunburn book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • queer
"It's a shame that you can't even come out to me."

-Chloe Michelle Howarth, Sunburn

"People say 'lesbian' sometimes, they say 'dyke' more."

-Chloe Michelle Howarth, Sunburn

"I hope your bed is warm and you sleep well. See you tomorrow, Lucy x"

-Chloe Michelle Howarth, Sunburn

"My heart lurches, as if it wants to leave my awful body and go make a home in her."

-Chloe Michelle Howarth, Sunburn

Cover of Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1) by Tamsyn Muir

20. Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)

By: Tamsyn Muir

4.21

Format: 448 pages, Hardcover

The Emperor needs necromancers. The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman. Gideon has a sword… read more

Similar categories in Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1) book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • queer
"Evidence,"

-Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)

"Too many words,"

-Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)

"Harrow said, “But you're God."

-Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)

"Death first to vultures and scavangers."

-Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)

Cover of Mrs. S by K.    Patrick

21. Mrs. S

By: K. Patrick

3.63

Format: 240 pages, Kindle Edition

A sublime and sensual debut novel exploring the nature of queer love and attraction, the transforma… read more

Similar categories in K. Patrick's Mrs. S book and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith

  • romance
  • lesbian
  • lgbt
  • fiction
  • adult
  • queer
"I live in hope it is her, I live in fear it is her, it is never her."

-K. Patrick, Mrs. S

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4.14

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3.77

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Benjamin Alire Sáenz

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