Books like 'Swimming in the Dark'
Readers who enjoyed Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical gay romance new adult 20th century secret-relationship queer other-man-woman forbidden love
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Twist and Shout by Gabriel (AO3), Standbyme
Destiel Fanfic. What begins as a transforming love between Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak in the summer of 1965 quickly derails into something far more tumultuous when Dean is drafted in the Vietnam War. Though the two both voice their relationship is one where saying goodbye is never a real truth, their story becomes fraught with the tragedy of circumstance... -
![An Exaltation of Larks by Suanne Laqueur]()
An Exaltation of Larks by Suanne Laqueur
September 11, 1973: Eleven-year-old Alejandro Penda watches from his apartment window as Santiago, Chile falls to a military coup, destroying his family and his childhood. Arriving alone in America, he’s taken in by the Larks: a prominent family in the town of Guelisten...Categorized as:
forbidden love other-man-woman queer 20th century contemporary m-m historical friends to lovers -
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![Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin]()
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
James Baldwin’s groundbreaking novel about love and the fear of love is set among the bohemian bars and nightclubs of 1950s Paris. In the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality...Categorized as:
20th century forbidden love other-man-woman queer historical m-m angst forced proximity -
![Over the Tracks by Anna Green]()
Over the Tracks by Anna Green
The first volume of The Heart Rate of a Mouse trilogy. In the summer of 1974, musician Ryan Ross embarks on an exhausting tour in support of his band's breakthrough album. He finds himself struggling to live up to the pressure and expectations of sudden fame in the chaos of endless shows and interviews...Categorized as:
new adult secret-relationship forbidden love other-man-woman queer 20th century m-m historical -
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![Into Deep Waters by Kaje Harper]()
Into Deep Waters by Kaje Harper
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsFor Jacob and Daniel, two young gay men aboard a Navy ship in WWII, the risks were high. Not just the risks of injury and death from Japanese planes and submarines, but the risk of discovery, of discharge, imprisonment or worse. Only a special kind of love was worth taking that chance. But from the moment Daniel met Jacob's eyes across a battle-scarred deck, he knew he had to try... -
![Rough Pages by Lev A.C. Rosen]()
Rough Pages by Lev A.C. Rosen
Private Detective Evander "Andy" Mills has been drawn back to the Lavender House estate for a missing person case. Pat, the family butler, has been volunteering for a book service, one that specializes in mailing queer books to a carefully guarded list of subscribers... -
![A Case for Christmas by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry]()
A Case for Christmas by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry
He loves no-one and never will. Lord Christmas Gale is a genius and a misanthrope, and, quite to his disgust, adored by all of Society for his capacity to solve mysteries. When a man approaches him seeking help in locating a lost dog, Gale rebuffs him... -
![The Absolutist by John Boyne]()
The Absolutist by John Boyne
September 1919:20 year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver some letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside Marian’s brother Will during the Great War but in 1917, Will laid down his guns on the battlefield, declared himself a conscientious objector and was shot as a traitor, an act which has brought shame and dishonour on the Bancroft family... -
![夜畫帳 第三卷 by Byeonduck]()
夜畫帳 第三卷 by Byeonduck
白羅謙一直以為自己是不得已才留在尹府。. 為了先生的官途，他才重拾春宮畫筆，. 甚至不惜委身尹勝浩，付出比他想像更多的代價。. 可被他寄託了所有的先生，卻似乎並不這麼想。. 比起對他呼來喚去動手動腳的尹少爺，. 先生那不經意間流露出的輕視，更傷人。. 他在尹勝浩帶給他的肉體歡愉之中漸漸沉淪，. 本以為這一切的本質都是傷害，. 可當隱隱感受到尹勝浩對他流露出的在意與占有慾時，. 少年越發感到迷惘……. 本書特色. ※韓國話題性耽美漫畫第三卷堂堂登場！. ※韓國Lezhin Comics正式授權，全球首次集結成冊。. ※全系列好評不斷，占據各大書店排行榜！. 他們是地位懸殊的貴族與畫匠，. 卻在一次又一次的交歡中，越來越靠近。. -
![Only You by Leta Blake]()
Only You by Leta Blake
Join Peter Mandel on his final steps to love in Only You, the highly-anticipated final book of Leta Blake's ’90s Coming of Age series. Despite the lingering wounds of his past relationship, Peter is ready to take a chance on finding a faithful love and embracing his true self. Peter and Daniel explore their connection despite Daniel's complicated home life...Categorized as:
new adult 20th century queer friends to lovers m-m second chances contemporary angst -
![A Mean Season by Marshall Thornton]()
A Mean Season by Marshall Thornton
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDom Reilly is back. In this follow up to Year of the Rat, Dom helps clear three men wrongly convicted of rape while also following a pet project—the twenty-year-old case of a man accused of killing his lover in 1976. Meanwhile, Dom gets wind that someone is looking for him. A private detective from Chicago... -
![What a Duke Desires by Merry Farmer]()
What a Duke Desires by Merry Farmer
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsTo win a prize that will redeem his shattered reputation, the Duke of Burville must masquerade as a commoner…. Wentworth Rawley might be a duke, but his title means nothing after he voted against his peers and in favor of the Reform Act…mere months after being caught in an extraordinarily compromising position with an older lover at a public party... -
![Until the End of Time by Nicky James]()
Until the End of Time by Nicky James
Being a gay man in 1827, was not only frowned upon in England, but punishable by death. Magistrate Simon Stockley would know. He’d convicted men in his courtroom and sentenced them himself. Every time, it left a vile taste in his mouth because Simon was no different than the men whose lives he claimed... -
![Midnight Flit by Elin Gregory]()
Midnight Flit by Elin Gregory
Miles Siward and Briers Allerdale return for another thrilling Jazz Age adventure. “Silk stockings on expenses. ”. Miles’s aristocratic mother has information of importance to the British Government and he must escort her home from Bucharest immediately, but their plans go violently awry and Miles and Lady Siward find themselves on a train to Belgrade - where Miles’s lover is posted... -
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![All Roads Lead to You Special Edition by Courtney W. Dixon]()
All Roads Lead to You Special Edition by Courtney W. Dixon
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA 1980s Stepbrother Road Trip Romance. A road trip that turned into a journey. Logan. Nicholas Theodoropoulos had been my stepbrother since I was fourteen. Mom died when I was twelve, and I resented Dad remarrying so soon. Even worse, my stepbrother had grown into a gorgeous man. I hated looking at him, reminding me every day of what I could never have. No one knew I was gay and never would...Categorized as:
queer new adult forbidden love m-m from hate to love contemporary queer-awakening historical -
![Deck the Halls in Secret Agents by Aster Glenn Gray]()
Deck the Halls in Secret Agents by Aster Glenn Gray
Christmas Eve, 1991. The Soviet Union is on the rocks, and so is George Douglass's career in espionage. Nonetheless, the American agent is wading through a blizzard on one last mission. But when George emerges from the snow at a supposedly abandoned chateau, it's lit up like a Christmas tree... -
![After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General by 顾三跃]()
After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General by 顾三跃
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsZhao Yelan was born as a criminal s*ave and was rescued by the Third Prince. After years of painstaking efforts to put him on the throne, Zhao Yelan became a sycophantic minister whom everyone detested, but he was actually given a marriage by that person to general Yan Mingting, the lone star of Tiansha. The general caused the death of his own father, his mother, his wife, and his dog... -
![Unspeakable Acts by Jackson Marsh]()
Unspeakable Acts by Jackson Marsh
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 5 ratings"Death will come da capo, suddenly silent, and you will not hear your final applause. Fail us, and you die. ". Blackmail, a death threat and an opera. The Clearwater Foundation is to be launched with a charity gala at the City Opera House where Archer's old friend, Cadwell Roxton, is to star. But Roxton has a dark secret... -
![夜畫帳 第二卷 by Byeonduck, 蔡蕙璞]()
夜畫帳 第二卷 by Byeonduck, 蔡蕙璞
一向私生活混亂的紈褲少爺尹勝浩，最近有點變了。. 他的心思不知為何，. 總是纏繞在那個身分低賤的年輕畫匠上，. 就連與他身體最為合拍的之樺少爺，. 都在欺負了白羅謙後，受到了他粗魯無禮的對待。. 儘管他對這個小畫匠日漸重視，. 可這個不懂感恩的傢伙，. 不僅在繪製春宮圖上敷衍他，偷喝了他的酒，. 甚至在那個讓人迷亂不已的夜裡，. 將他誤認成了他人……. -
![Now and Then by William Corlett]()
Now and Then by William Corlett
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsNow. Christopher Metcalfe returns to his family home in Kent after the death of his father. Sorting through a box of memorabilia from his days at public school, Chris is suddenly confronted by the face that has haunted him for thirty years... -
![Separate Rooms by Pier Vittorio Tondelli]()
Separate Rooms by Pier Vittorio Tondelli
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsSoon to be a major film adaptation by Luca Guadagnino, Separate Rooms is a masterpiece of Italian literature, and a heartbreaking portrait of love, grief, and the daily realities of being a gay man in 1980s Europe. Thomas, a young German musician, is dying. His older boyfriend, a renowned Italian writer named Leo, finds it impossible to watch the slow and inevitable demise of his lover... -
![Dublin Bay by John Patrick]()
Dublin Bay by John Patrick
In 1939, the world tumbles toward war and the lives of two young men will be forever changed. James Brennan grew up in the poorest of Dublin’s tenements, turning adversity to advantage wherever he could. But he’s nearly a man now—with a good education at that—and wants more from life than what he can get as a day laborer, or following his father into the factory... -
![When Skies Have Fallen (When Skies Have Fallen) by Debbie McGowan]()
When Skies Have Fallen (When Skies Have Fallen) by Debbie McGowan
For many in war-torn 1944, love blossoms in the dance hall, and airman Arty Clarke is no exception. He’s a thinker and a dreamer; however, it’s not the beautiful, talented dancer in his arms—his best friend Jean—who inspires his dreams. For when his gaze meets that of Technical Sergeant Jim Johnson, Arty dares to imagine a different dance...Categorized as:
secret-relationship queer military historical m-m length-medium open-door disabilities and marks -
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![Till Death Do Us Part by Tangstory]()
Till Death Do Us Part by Tangstory
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSet in early-20th century China, this story takes off in the port city of Tientsin (Tianjin) that is divided into lands called concessions and owned by several foreign powers. Shen Liangsheng is a charismatic and cunning playboy, a son of a rich businessman, who has profits as his top priority... -
![How Long Has This Been Going On? by Ethan Mordden]()
How Long Has This Been Going On? by Ethan Mordden
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsAn epic novel depicting the changing landscape of gay life in modern America--beginning in 1949 and moving to the present day. Among the many characters who populate this dazzling trip are a policeman who becomes a legendary porn star, an acid-tongued lesbian bar owner, and a drag queen who, readers eventually learn, is the novel's true narrator. -
![Help Wanted by Marshall Thornton]()
Help Wanted by Marshall Thornton
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsIn the sixth Pinx Video Mystery, Noah is thrilled that it's been months and months since he's been involved in a murder. .. but then, the boys learn that Javier O'Shea (tall, dark and LAPD) has been arrested for theft of evidence. As the bodies pile up, they learn that Javier may, or may not, have run afoul of rogue cops at the notoriously corrupt Rampart Station... -
![Broken Blades by Aleksandr Voinov, L.A. Witt]()
Broken Blades by Aleksandr Voinov, L.A. Witt
Rainbow Award Winner 2016 “Best Gay Book”. They only had one night together—a stolen interlude at the 1936 Olympics. After Mark Driscoll challenged Armin Truchsess von Kardenberg to a good-natured fencing match, there was no resisting each other...Categorized as:
20th century forbidden love queer secret-relationship m-m military historical men in uniform -
![Cairo Malachi and the Adventure of the Silver Whistle by Samantha SoRelle]()
Cairo Malachi and the Adventure of the Silver Whistle by Samantha SoRelle
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings“The first time I met the love of my life, he died in my arms. ”. Cairo Malachi, Conduit to the Spirits, is a liar, a thief, and a fraud. He may be building a reputation as one of the most fashionable mediums in London, but he doesn’t even believe in ghosts and has certainly never conjured one... -
![Just a Little Seduction by Merry Farmer]()
Just a Little Seduction by Merry Farmer
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsDavid Wirth has made it his life’s work to fight for the rights of those who cannot defend themselves and to navigate England’s choppy legal waters for fellow members of The Brotherhood. Tracking down the three villainous noblemen, including a powerful duke, who have masterminded a child kidnapping ring promises to be the pinnacle of his career seeking justice for the helpless... -
![Just a Little Madness by Merry Farmer]()
Just a Little Madness by Merry Farmer
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsOpposites attract and sparks fly, but can they be contained? Member of Parliament, Edward Archibald, lives in constant fear of being discovered as a gay man and having his life ruined because of it. He has avoided scandal in every way possible. .. until his brother runs off with a married duchess and kidnaps Lord Selby's son and heir... -
![Just a Little Mischief by Merry Farmer]()
Just a Little Mischief by Merry Farmer
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsValet Xavier Lawrence hasn’t seen much of the world. So when his employer, the Duke of Selby, takes him along on a transatlantic voyage in pursuit of his missing son and heir, Xavier is thrilled with the opportunity. But the excitement over his first taste of salt air and the sea is nothing to the thrill of an opportunity for a secret affair... -
![Just a Little Rivalry by Merry Farmer]()
Just a Little Rivalry by Merry Farmer
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsSolicitor John Dandie will go to the ends of the Earth for his friends and his clients. And in the case of Lord Blake Williamson, Duke of Selby, in the search for his missing son, the ends of the Earth just happen to be Long Island, New York. With Lady Selby finally cornered at her father’s seaside mansion, convincing the woman to return Lord Stanley should be child’s play... -
![Sweet Honesty by Joan Vassar]()
Sweet Honesty by Joan Vassar
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsAtlanta, Georgia, 1950–Michael can’t believe his eyes as he watches the man he loves marry a woman from the back row of Mount Zion Baptist Church. When the beautiful couple is pronounced man and wife, he leaves his home in Georgia for the chance of a better life in New York City. Alexander is just trying to exist in Queens, New York... -
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![Middle Ground by Ursula Zilinsky]()
Middle Ground by Ursula Zilinsky
Two males meet in a Nazi labour camp: half-Jewish teenager Tyl von Pankow, saved from the gas-chambers by the influence of his Prussian grandfather, and Johannes von Svestrom, war-wounded veteran of the Afrika Korps, now sentenced by Hitler to a terrible command... -
![Full Circle by Michael Thomas Ford]()
Full Circle by Michael Thomas Ford
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsHistory professor Ned Brummel is living happily with his partner of twelve years in small-town Maine when he receives a phone call from his estranged friend--Jack--telling him that another friend--Andy--is very ill and possibly near death... -
![Putting on the Ritz by Joe Keenan]()
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![Eleventh Hour by Elin Gregory]()
Eleventh Hour by Elin Gregory
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsBorrowed from the Secret Intelligence Service cipher department to assist Briers Allerdale - a field agent returning to 1920s London with news of a dangerous anarchist plot - Miles Siward moves into a 'couples only' boarding house, posing as Allerdale’s 'wife'... -
![The General and the Horse-Lord by Sarah Black]()
The General and the Horse-Lord by Sarah Black
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 11 ratings2nd Edition. The General and the Horse-Lord: Book One. General John Mitchel and his favorite pilot, Gabriel Sanchez, served together as comrades and brothers-in-arms for more than twenty-five years. They followed the warrior’s path: honor first, and service, and the safety of the tribe. Their own needs for love and companionship were secondary to the mission... -
![The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault]()
The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsSet in Greece of the 4th century BCE, The Mask of Apollo the actor Nikeratos. Thru the eyes of this warm, sympathetic & living character we experience the war-weary, self-searching world of his time. Always on his travels Niko, the tragedian, takes with him an antique mask of Apollo, a relic of the theater's golden age, which from being his mascot becomes by degrees his artistic conscience... -
![Forever Hold His Peace by Rebecca Cohen]()
Forever Hold His Peace by Rebecca Cohen
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsSebastian and Anthony face an uncertain future together when accusations of witchcraft and a traitor in their midst threaten everything they’ve fought for. Playing the role of his twin sister Bronwyn, the wife of Anthony Redbourn, Earl of Crofton, is not an easy task, but Sebastian does it willing for them to be together... -
![Counterpoint: Dylan's Story by Ruth Sims]()
Counterpoint: Dylan's Story by Ruth Sims
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAt eighteen Dylan Rutledge has one music. He believes his destiny is to be the greatest composer of the rapidly approaching twentieth century. Only Laurence Northcliff, a young history master at The Venerable Bede School for Young Gentlemen, believes in Dylan’s talent and encourages his dream, not realizing Dylan is in love with him... -
![Gemini by Michel Tournier]()
Gemini by Michel Tournier
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJean and Paul are identical twins. Outsiders, even their parents, cannot tell them apart, and call them Jean-Paul. The mysterious bond between them excludes all others; they speak their own language; they are one perfectly harmonious unit; they are, in all innocence, lovers. For Paul, this unity is paradise, but as they grow up Jean rebels against it... -
![On Wings of Song by Anne Barwell]()
On Wings of Song by Anne Barwell
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA chance meeting they never forgot. Six years after meeting British soldier Aiden Foster during the Christmas Truce of 1914, Jochen Weber still finds himself thinking about Aiden, their shared conversation about literature, and Aiden’s beautiful singing voice. A visit to London gives Jochen the opportunity to search for Aiden, but he’s shocked at what he finds... -
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![The Door Behind Us by John C. Houser]()
The Door Behind Us by John C. Houser
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsIt’s 1919, and Frank Huddleston has survived the battlefields of the Great War. A serious head injury has left him with amnesia so profound he must re-learn his name every morning from a note posted on the privy door. Gerald “Jersey" Rohn, joined the Army because he wanted to feel like a man, but he returned from the trenches minus a leg and with no goal for his life... -
![Man's World by Rupert Smith]()
Man's World by Rupert Smith
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsContrasting today’s blogs with diaries of the past, this novel follows two parallel narratives that are 50 years apart and vastly different, at least at first appearance. In modern-day London, Robert searches for fulfillment in a world of sex, drugs, designer clothes, and hip gay clubs, during which he records his experience on his blog... -
![The Heirs of Fortune by Heather Domin]()
The Heirs of Fortune by Heather Domin
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsSix months after the events of Soldier of Raetia, the 24th is invited on campaign with Rome's most famous general — Drusus Germanicus, the stepson of Augustus who will stop at nothing to subjugate the north... -
![Just a Little Gamble by Merry Farmer]()
Just a Little Gamble by Merry Farmer
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsEverything that makes them opposites is what attracts them to each other…. Bad boy composer Samuel Percy is the talk of London…but only because high society cannot believe a black man could reach such prestigious heights in the artistic world. His quest to prove himself is complicated by his sister—known as The Black Widow—and her mischievous schemes... -
![Box 1663 by Alex Sorel]()
Box 1663 by Alex Sorel
Nick Daly, a U. S. Army photographer invalided home from military operations in North Africa, receives a new assignment: document a secret project known as ‘Project Y’ in the New Mexico high desert. On the way, he meets up with one of the project scientists, Ian Pennington, a chemist with all the social grace and charm of a brick wall... -
![If It Ain't Love by Tamara Allen]()
If It Ain't Love by Tamara Allen
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn the darkest days of the Great Depression, New York Times reporter Whit Stoddard has lost the heart to do his job and lives a lonely hand-to-mouth existence with little hope of recovery, until he meets Peter, a man in even greater need of new hope.
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