Sapphics Behaving Badly
If you and I share taste, you’ve often thought to yourself, “If only Gone Girl’s Amy Dunne had been a lover of ladies. Then we’d really be cookin’.” When I wrote my commercial fiction debut, Happily Ever After the Murders, I vividly pictured a nostalgic story that felt like Bonnie & Clyde meets the Golden Girls, but make it sapphic. I can’t think of a single other book that centers an older sapphic couple that is on the run from the law and is up to no good, and this isn’t just me a problem.
Sapphic books can be difficult to find on the shelves of your local bookstore, and if you’re even more particular (like I am), and you’re craving is not only for some women loving women but for some sapphics behaving badly, filling your TBR can feel like standing in freezing water up to your waist, sifting river dirt, and panning for gold.
Luckily for the wlw crowd, there are plenty of books that center morally grey sapphics across genres if you know where to look. I’ve done the leg work, so here are some of my favorites.
1. This How You Lose the Time War
This takes the cake as my number one favorite book of all time. I am not a sci-fi girlie, but I wouldn’t call this a sci-fi book. This Is How You Lose the Time War is a viral sensation that centers two enemy agents as they correspond through the braids of time. What starts as a deadly game of cat and mouse evolves into a romance for the ages. It’s a quick read. I should know, I’ve read it about 100 times.
2. The Baroness of the Eastern Seaboard
In this supernatural western horror, we follow two male gunfighters in love as they face off against a supernatural cult. I mean, come on. You’re already sold. But what if I told you that the villain is sapphic and that a large portion of the book is her letters to her lover? If you haven’t guessed it by now, I’m almost as big a fan of morally grey sapphics as I am the epistolary format. So, sue me. I also think the moon is a lesbian and won’t be explaining further.
3. Fingersmith
Just about anything by Sarah Waters is canon reading for the sapphic book lover, and in my humble opinion, Fingersmith is her best work. In this historical fiction, we follow a thief in her mission to help a gentleman con man swindle a wealthy heiress. But when the thief becomes entranced by the heiress, the series of twists that follows will have you flipping pages so quickly you’ll get a papercut.
4. The Wicked and the Willing
Okay, so this recommendation is for my lovers of spice. Set in 1927 Singapore, The Wicked and the Willingfollows a wealthy vampire and her fraught relationship with her loyal maidservant. I’d describe this one as an erotic horror that leans into some pretty heavy BDSM elements, so please be mindful of your triggers. That said, if you’re up for the content, this one is well worth the bloody, brutal ride.
5. House of Hunger
Speaking of blood-drinkers and the women who serve them, House of Hunger follows a young woman who comes from poverty after she accepts a job as a blood servant. She finds herself amid a hedonistic court, swept into a dark world of debauchery. This gothic, historical horror is lush, sexy, and thrilling. If you loved A Dowry of Blood, you’ll love this one too.
6. Antenora
I can’t be the only fan of southern gothic horror. Antenora leans into all the delicious earmarks of the genre. We have a revival church and speaking to snakes. We have a missing girl and a mystery at the heart of a deeply religious and dogmatic town. But in this one, we get a sapphic relationship too. Take my money.
7. When the Devil
Trigger warning on this one for domestic violence, so please take care of yourself, but if you got excited about the southern setting of Antenora, you may also love When the Devil by Emma E. Murray. This novelette follows a woman in an abusive relationship after she meets an alluring (but dangerous) female stranger. The two become entwined and what follows is equal parts steamy and blood-stained.
Discover the Book
The Golden Girls meets Bonnie and Clyde and Thelma and Louise in this thrilling novel about two elderly women who go on the run to cover up a double murder they committed four decades ago.
Ida and Jean got away with murder. Settling into their golden years in late ’90s Rockaway, New York, Ida and Jean’s biggest problems are HOA squabbles, grown kids who don’t visit enough, and staying in the closet as a lesbian couple for fear of being ostracized. But when the electrical lines in their backyard need replacing, the women know that digging up the ground will unearth their long-held secret: the bodies of their late husbands buried under the rosebushes.
After their attempts to keep the electrical company from digging take a deadly turn, the lovers go on the run, launched into a cross-country adventure—with their cat, Frankie, in tow. To escape the law, they’ll need to outwit quirky midwestern locals, mend frayed relationships with their adult children, and shake off the detective that’s hot on their trail. But if Ida and Jean can pull it off, they’ll find their freedom in the place that has always represented their best shot at coming out and finally living their authentic lives together: San Francisco, California.
