Celebrate Pride with 2026 LGBTQ Historical Fiction

A zookeeper in 1960s Cuba risks everything for a love affair in a country where same sex relationships are branded as “counterrevolutionary.” Told from the eyes of those around him to fit together the puzzle pieces of his life, from Cuba to exile in London and Miami, the complicated life of Felix and his family begins to come together. How do we hurt the ones we love? And how do we make sense of the people who shape us, even long after they’re gone?

Vanessa Riley’s newest novel is perfect for fans of Pirates of the Caribbean and Our Flag Means Death, and is based on real-life seventeenth-century pirate Jacquotte Delehaye, the mixed-race daughter of a wealthy Tortuga tavern owner who dreams of a life at sea. In Haiti, she disguises herself as a man and goes by Jacques. She soon finds she’s not the only one living under a different identity at sea, as she grows close with other women in disguise and falls in love with a beautiful courtesan. But as more and more pirates turn toward the slave trade to amass riches, Jaquotte turns away from her former life to fight for everyone to find the same liberation she has.

In this reimagining of The Great Gatsby, a teenager trying to make a new start at a prestigious boys’ school in Harlem finds out that the supposedly integrated school has all the same problems he was hoping to leave behind in Oklahoma. Nick’s writing begins to expose dangerous secrets behind the school, and his growing feelings for the founder’s charismatic son, Jay, only complicate matters further. Together, they’ll have to decide whether to stay in this fight even if it means they might be running from the consequences forever.

In the wake of his wife’s death, Ignacio drowns in memories of the past, leaving his daughter to fend for herself. He spends his days watching telenovelas, smoking cigarettes, wearing blonde wigs, and remembering the man he once loved. But out from Ignacio’s tortured past steps Mamadora Eléctric,a who takes up the role of a maternal figure for Valentina, even while worrying that Ignacio’s dark thoughts have unleashed a curse on them all. It’s a story of coming of age and coming undone from the author of Fiebre Tropical.

Release date: June 23, 2026

In 1937 Suffolk, a young woman returns home for one last visit before she leaves to attend Oxford for university. Only her closest friend, Joanie, knows this isn’t actually the plan. Instead, the two intend to elope to London and live as lovers, escaping the claustrophobic society they’ve known. But when their plans are discovered, Margaret’s estranged father whisks her away to the woods. There, a strange power begins awakening in Margaret. She wakes covered in dirt and scratches. Is this the same curse that took her mother from her, or is it possible this could be the thing that finally allows Margaret to find some approximation of the love she’s always wanted?

Release date: September 15, 2026

What’s this? Another Great Gatsby retelling? Honestly, those could be a whole post in and of themselves—and maybe they will be…But for now, enjoy Stoker Award winner Gwendolyn Kriste’s dark take on the classic, where Daisy Buchanan’s daughter Mel encounters the ghost of her mother in the 1950s and must dig into the family’s past to discover whether her mother’s death was just a terrible tragedy or actual murder.