1950s LGBTQ novels

Memoirs of Hadrian (French: Mémoires d'Hadrien) is a French-language novel by the Belgian-born writer Marguerite Yourcenar about the life and death of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. First published in France in 1951, the book was a critical and commercial success. It was translated into English by Grace Frick and published as Hadrian's Memoirs in 1954 by Farrar, Straus and Young and the following year in the UK as Memoirs of Hadrian (by Secker & Warburg). American editions of this translation are now published under the latter title.

Quatrefoil: A Modern Novel, sometimes called Quatrefoil, is a novel about gay men written in 1950 by James W. Fugaté under the pen name James Barr. It is known for being the first modern book to portray homosexuality in a positive way. The main character, Phillip, is based on a college fraternity brother that the author had an affair with while in college.

Ernesto is an unfinished novel by Umberto Saba (1883–1957), written in 1953 and published posthumously in 1975. It was his only work of fiction. It was largely autobiographical, including details about the title character's friendship and love for a violinist, and his attachment to his native Trieste. As one critic says: "he revisited not only the scenes but also the moods of his puberty".

The Price of Salt (later republished under the title Carol) is a 1952 romance novel by Patricia Highsmith, first published under the pseudonym "Claire Morgan." Highsmith—known as a suspense writer based on her psychological thriller Strangers on a Train—used an alias as she did not want to be tagged as "a lesbian-book writer", and she also used her own life references for characters and occurrences in the story.

The Quiet Shore is 1958 war novel by the British writer Ernest Raymond. It returns to the subject of one of his best-known works Tell England, set during the Gallipoli campaign during the First World War. It addresses the theme of homosexuality which had been a subtext in the earlier novel.

The Dog Star is a novel by American writer Donald Windham, first published in 1950. It tells the story of a young Southern man who is haunted by the suicide of his best friend from reform school. Set in 1930s post-Depression Atlanta, the novel's themes include dysfunctional families, traditionalism, urban anomie, homosexuality, and suicide.

A Room in Chelsea Square is a 1958 British gay novel by Michael Nelson, originally published anonymously due to its homosexual content and "thinly veiled portrayals of prominent London literary figures." It is about a wealthy gentleman who lures an attractive younger man to London with the promise of an upper crust lifestyle.

Chocolates for Breakfast is a 1956 American novel written by Pamela Moore. Originally published in 1956 when Moore was eighteen years old, the novel gained notoriety from readers and critics for its frank depiction of teenage sexuality, and its discussion of the taboo topics of homosexuality and gender roles. The plot focuses on fifteen-year-old Courtney Farrell and her destructive upbringing between her father, a wealthy Manhattan publisher, and her mother, a faltering Hollywood actress.

The Charioteer is a romantic war novel by Mary Renault (pseudonym for Eileen Mary Challans) first published in London in 1953. Renault's US publisher (Morrow) refused to publish it until 1959, after a revision of the text, due to its generally positive portrayal of homosexuality. The Charioteer is significant because it features a gay protagonist and romantic story with a happy ending, the first book traditionally published in England to do so. It quickly became a bestseller – particularly within the gay community, and remains a cult classic.

Women in the Shadows is a lesbian pulp fiction novel written in 1959 by Ann Bannon (pseudonym of Ann Weldy). It is the third in a series of pulp fiction novels that eventually came to be known as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. It was originally published in 1959 by Gold Medal Books, again in 1983 by Naiad Press, and again in 2002 by Cleis Press. Each edition was adorned with a different cover.