'I write queer romance so that people feel seen'

Perusing bookshelves as a young teenager, Rebecca Caffery, who realised from an early age that she was bisexual, struggled to see people like her within the pages of novels.

After reading her first queer book when she was about 17, more than a decade later she is a published author ensuring that more queer love stories end up on shelves, and in the hands of book lovers.

The 29-year-old, from Solihull, has authored two queer Formula One romance books under publisher HarperCollins - Pole Position, which follows the romance between two drivers on the same team; and First to Finish, chronicling a relationship between a driver and race engineer.

"I love being able to contribute to a genre that is rapidly growing, and being able to see more diverse relationships over the heteronormative ones," she said.

"To go into a book store and to see a relationship that looks like yours, or to see something that is diverse, I think that's so important."

LGBTQ+ literature has seen success over recent years. In 2023, LGBTQ+ young adult book, Heartstopper Volume 5, by Alice Oseman, became the UK's fastest-selling graphic novel ever - selling more than 60,000 copies in the first three days after its release.

The Bookseller calculated that from 2024-25, its top 50 queer books earned £20.6m across 2.2 million books.

Earlier this year, a new independent LGBTQ+ publisher named PANSY was launched by novelist Matt Cain and businessman Harry Glasstone.

Caffery believes that the growth of the LGBTQ+ genre is partly down to a slew of popular queer book-to-screen adaptations in recent years.

Heated Rivalry, which depicts the decade-long relationship between two rival ice hockey players, was recently adapted into a series from Rachel Reid's novel of the same name.

It garnered millions of fans, and broke records for its penultimate episode - tying with Breaking Bad for the highest-rated episode ever on entertainment website IMDB.

The UK's biggest bookselling chain, Waterstones, said daily pre-orders for the series in print had increased "by about 700% week on week" since the series was released at the start of 2026, while publisher HarperCollins said it had to print several more batches of the books than originally planned in order to meet demand.

Heartstopper, based on Oseman's book series, was made into a film and three Netflix series, which pulled some of the streamer's highest viewing figures to date.

Other screen adaptations include Red, White and Royal Blue; Love, Simon; and Call Me By Your Name.

"I definitely think seeing how popular things like Heartstopper, that is more young adult focused, has really helped different studios, channels, publish more media that is queer focused, queer related," said Caffery.

But, she said, there is still more to be done.

"After seeing a hockey TV show doing well, there's not been more queer hockey media, in the sense of TV shows or films."

So, why create queer love stories in the world of Formula One?

Much of the motivation is simple - Caffery loves the sport.

However, it's not a space in which she has felt particularly welcome.

"I didn't feel very welcome in the sport as a queer person and as a woman, and I think that is changing."

"Especially the female fandom for F1 sports, I think that is definitely growing - but I think there is no clear representation on the track."

Currently, there are no openly gay drivers on the Formula One grid.

In 2024, Ralph Schumacher, who raced in F1 from 1997 to 2007 and won six grands prix, announced he was in a same-sex relationship - something which Lewis Hamilton said sent a positive message.

Before that, British driver Mike Beuttler who was in the top flight of racing in the 1970s, was the only known gay male driver.

Hamilton previously said that the sport still has work to do in terms of inclusivity.

He and former driver Sebastian Vettel protested about an anti-LGBTQ+ law in Hungary in 2021, and took similar stances in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

"I think when you have a growing fan base - especially a younger growing fan base, people want to see themselves in the sport," said Caffery.

"They want to know that the sport supports their diversity.

"I think you don't really see that at the moment within Formula One, which is such a shame."

Caffery says this is where her stories come in.

"I wanted to take it slightly utopian in a sense," she said.

"It is set in a world where the sport is not homophobic, where there's a bit more freedom for the drivers within my fictional universe for them to be who they are, who they want be, and not feel like that they can't make it because of their sexuality."

"For me, it was writing a book set in this sport that I love, but making it feel a little bit more accessible, a little bit more welcoming - so that people who are picking it up do feel like: 'Okay, maybe one day this is how it could actually be'."

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.