One day in 1968, at the height of the Biafran civil war, Ijeoma’s father is killed and her world is transformed forever. Separated from her grief-stricken mother, she meets another young lost girl, Amina, and the two become inseparable.

Theirs is a relationship that will shake the foundations of Ijeoma’s faith, test her resolve and flood her heart. From Ijeoma’s childhood in war-torn Biafra and through the perils and pleasures of her blossoming sexuality, Okparanta takes us on a journey through thwarted hopes and wrong turns and into the everyday joys and sorrows of marriage and motherhood.

Under the Udala Trees – Chinelo Okparanta – 9781847088383

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Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home. Which Alison and her family referred to as the « Fun Home. » It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead. Leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.

In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power. This book is a unique coming-of-age story written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail.

How does a daughter resolve the legacy of mystery left by the man she called her father?

Fun Home: A Tragicomedy – Alison Bechdel – 9780618871711

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Long before people identified as transgender or lesbian, there were female husbands and the women who loved them. People assigned female who transed gender, lived as men, and married women – were true queer pioneers.

Moving deftly from the colonial era to just before the First World War, Jen Manion uncovers the riveting and very personal stories of ordinary people who lived as men despite tremendous risk, danger, violence, and threat of punishment.

Female Husbands – Jen Manion – 9781108718271

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From the creator of Perfectly Queer: An Illustrated Introduction, this bold and brilliantly illustrated guide is written for anyone looking to explore the beautiful ace and aro communities; the acefluxes, the arospikes, the demis, the greys, the frays and more. Separate the myths and stereotypes, and discover some of the wonderful intricacies that shape each spectrum, including: forms of love and attraction, common identities, microlabels, flags, and the entertaining community-led culture. Packed with quizzes, activity sheets and a directory of further resources, this is a celebration of all things ace and aro!

Amazing Ace, Awesome Aro : An Illustrated Exploration – Victoria Barron – 9781839977145

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Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak.

She’s used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she’d be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world. Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land.

On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot–if she’s willing to sow the seeds of civil war

An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon – 9781617755880

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1972.

On a quiet summer night in Newcastle, Australia, two teenage girls must each make a choice. To act upon their desires or suppress them? To live an openly queer life or to try desperately not to? Over the following three decades, these girls grow into women and live out their decisions, always almost crossing paths at pivotal moments.

In an era that spans Australia’s first Mardi Gras and the AIDS pandemic, there is joy and grief. And loss and desire for each of them – but will their lives ever collide?

A book about love and how it’s policed, friendship and how it transcends, and hilarity in the face of heartbreak. A celebration of queer life in all its vibrancy and colour, this story finds the humanity in all of us and demands we claim our futures for ourselves.

A Language of Limbs – Dylin Hardcastle – 9780857309075

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