Older teen books with no romance?

[Marthawheresmyphone]

Hi, does anyone have any recommendations for older teen novels with no romance in them?
DD14 (reading age more like 18) loves (well... loved) to read - particularly dystopian/post apocalyptic books.
Since coming out as gay she has complained that "all the books have a romance in them & of course they're all straight!!"
So any recommendations that have very, very little to no romance; or gay romance would be much appreciated.
Thanks :)

How to be Both
Like
Both by Ali Smith

The Power by Naomi Alderman

Neverwhere by Neil Hainan

How To be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

Heart Songs Annie Proulx

The Sea Road Margaret Elphinstone

American Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Life After Life Kate Atkinson

NOT children's books. Plenty of adult themes. But mostly fit her criteria, and she would probably enjoy some of them.

Oops, Neil Gaiman, not Hainan!

At about your DD's age, I discovered the massive collection of Virago Modern Classics my local library had.

Not sure libraries will have many copies (I think I was very lucky that we had a keen advocate for women writers on the staff!) but the entire list is on the Virago website.

Some of the most brilliant and thought-provoking books I've ever read, many years later, are in that list.

Thank you both! I will have a look at these with her :)

Ah great suggestion Ginpuddles! I forgot all about Virago! I used to love them when I was a teenager in the mid 90s. Used to browse/buy them in 2nd hand bookshops. Ended up obsessed with Angela Carter.

Ellen Galford is another writer she might enjoy. I remember liking her books a lot, although I don't know if they might seem a bit dated now, I haven't re-read them in a long time.

Sally Nicols - Things a Bright Girl Can Do is a YA novel about the suffrage/suffragette campaign and has a lesbian romance, but that's only a small part of the story.

Frances Hardinge - great YA author, not romance, just good characters and settings.

For teen books with gay characters/romance I'd recommend:
My Heart Goes Bang by Keris Stainton
Girlhood and A Kiss In The Dark by Cat Clarke
Last Bus to Everland and Out of the Blue by Sophie Cameron
The Paper and Hearts Society by Lucy Powrie

None of them are dystopian but Sophie Cameron's are sort of fantasy and Cat Clarke's are quite dark.

I'm sure there are loads more, there's a big effort to publish more diverse young adult fiction. I'll be back if I think of any more!

Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman
(okay it does have a romance in it but it's very low-key and they aren't the main characters)

Naomi Novik - Uprooted. There is a tiny bit of heterosexual sex in it (wouldn't call it a romance) but it's very much a small subplot.

Now I've gone down a google rabbit-hole and want to know what people think of Uglies, Everland, We are the ants, Future Shock and Bluescreen.

Also, more relevantly, The Abyss Surrounds Us apparently has a same-sex love interest (We Are the Ants has a dead same-sex love interest...).

Thanks all! That's quite a list to explore - much appreciated!

Jules Verne - the psychology of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea might be interesting.
Robert Graves's I Claudius
Mary Renault's Alexander trilogy (male gay relationships)

www.goodreads.com/list/show/123267.2020_YA_Books_with_LGBT_Themes

The Henna Wars looks interesting

www.goodreads.com/list/show/3392.LGBTQ_for_YA

Another list

Jeannette Winterson's Oranges are Not the Only Fruit it really good.

I probably incorrectly recall most of the older science fiction genre would be light on romance, OP, so Asimov, Herbert, Wyndham and many others, possibly not those of Heinlein or PJ Farmer's novels that have have somewhat odd views on sexuality. Good luck.