The purpose of this study is to analyze how homosexuality is portrayed in young- adult novels. I use books published in Sweden from 1977- 2003. Three of the books have female main characters and the other three have male main characters. My purpose is therefore to compare the different results between the sexes.

I will examine and discuss the homosexuality in the novels with focus on the homosexual identity of the young characters and how it is formed. I relate the results to a queer discussion about identity. My results show that there has been a development in how the homosexuality of the main characters is portrayed; the majority of the late works describe homosexuality as socially constructed and not biological.