Mostly rainbows and unicorns: Queer books with happy endings and lots of fun

Many queer books talk about queer struggles: about hostility and discrimination, about estrangement from or grudging acceptance by friends and family. And these stories are absolutely important. But we also need hope and joy: we need models for queer family and community in the books we read. Over the last year, I found myself making a list of books I’ve loved that have queer main characters who get happy endings, and sharing it with friends who ask.

While they’re still less visible than straight characters, there is no more a dearth of queer characters in fiction (at least in western fiction). This list has dozens of good queer books published last year alone. The book recommendations that follow are therefore in no way exhaustive. What I am doing is sharing with you books I’ve loved and that meet my very arbitrary criteria of “fun” (which is why it skews heavy on novels – I don’t read enough short story or poetry collections/anthologies to include them and it’s harder to judge these on “happy endings”).

The world feels bleak; have a little escape with one of these books. I won’t promise no tragedy or dystopia, but if there is, it’s balanced by heavy doses of humour and triumph....

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