Tanya Byrne’s Top 5 Sapphic Love Stories

Team BKMRK is delighted to publish Afterlove, the lesbian love story you’ve been dying to read from acclaimed author Tanya Byrne!

To celebrate Afterlove’s release, Tanya shares her favourite sapphic love stories. Scroll down to find out more about Afterlove 💜

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

This is the first sapphic book I read so it will always be dear to me. Deceptively simple but beautifully told, this book may be almost forty years old, but the story is every bit as tender – and awkward and intense – as it was when I first read it.

About the book: From the moment Liza Winthrop meets Annie Kenyon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she knows there is something special between them. But Liza never knew falling in love could be so wonderful… or so confusing.

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

This is a story of infatuation at first sight that blossoms into so much more and is Highsmith at her absolute finest. And, for those who need one, don’t worry, it has a happy ending!

About the book: Therese Belivet, a stage designer trapped in a department-store day job, find her routine forever shattered by the appearance of Carol Aird, a customer who comes in to buy her daughter a Christmas toy. They fall in love and set out across the United States, ensnared by society’s confines and the imminent disapproval of others, yet propelled by their infatuation.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

As someone who, like Cameron, ‘came of age’ in the late 80s/early 90s and lived in a super-religious house, this one hit a little too close to home for me. So when I say that this book ruined me, please believe me. This isn’t just one of my favourite sapphic love stories, but one of my favourite stories, period.

About the book: The night Cameron Post’s parents died, her first emotion was relief. Relief they would never know that hours earlier, she’d been kissing a girl. Now living with her conservative Aunt in small-town Montana, hiding her sexuality and blending in becomes second nature to Cameron until she begins an intense friendship with the beautiful Coley Taylor.

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

I adore all of Nina LaCour’s books, but this is my favourite. Much like Annie On My Mind, it’s deceptively ‘quiet’ but MY GOD, it hit me like a baseball bat to the chest.

About the book: Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend Mabel. Mabel is soon coming to visit, so Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

I’ve just finished this and it is honestly so gorgeous. I can’t wait to read Adiba’s next one, Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating.

About the book: Nishat and Flávia are rivals at school, but Nishat can’t help the secret crush burning in her heart – even though her parents disapprove of the fact she likes girls. Can she possibly find her happy ever after? When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants – as long as she isn’t herself. Because Muslim girls aren’t lesbians. Nishat doesn’t want to lose her family, but she also doesn’t want to hide who she is, which only gets harder once Flávia walks into her life. Beautiful and charismatic, Flávia takes Nishat’s breath away. But as their lives become tangled, they’re caught up in a rivalry that gets in the way of any feelings they might have for each other. Can Nishat find a way to be true to herself… and find love too?

Did you know The Henna Wars is one of BKMRK’s new books? Click here to check it out!

Discover Afterlove…

Ash Persaud is about to become a grim reaper in the afterlife but she is determined to see her first love, Poppy Morgan, again. The only thing that separates them is death.

This New Year’s Eve, Ash gets an RSVP from the afterlife she can’t decline: to join a clan of fierce girl reapers who take the souls of the city’s dead to await their fate.

But Ash can’t forget Poppy and will do anything to see her again… even if it means they only get a few more days together. Dead or alive…

Not even death can tear them apart 💜

Out now in paperback, eBook and audio! Want a copy? –