From Humarock Beach in Massachusetts, where he spent boyhood summers gathering sea glass and flying handmade kites with his grandfather, to the tropical coastline of Miami where he built his career, LGBTQ+ author Jonathan Welsh has lived a life shaped by the sea. A graduate of the University of Miami and Barry University, where he earned his Master of Public Administration, Welsh now serves as Director of Marketing and Communications at Care Resource, a Miami-based community health center. Sunshine and salty air have surrounded him all his life.

It is no surprise, then, that his debut book Tides Between Shores moves seamlessly between the windy shores of Nantucket and the warm coasts of South Florida. The five interwoven novellas span more than a century, exploring queer love across eras when it was forbidden, dangerous, or hidden in plain sight.

The opening tale, “The Quiet Tide”, transports readers aboard a 19th-century whaling vessel and into the life of young Julius, son of a mercurial sea captain. Yearning for freedom from the brutality of the trade, Julius finds refuge in Nantucket, where in a small cottage in Siasconset he discovers love with Thomas, a tender young man from Barnstable. Like each story in the collection, it is vivid with detail – the colors of houses, the textures of fabric, the scent of salt air and native flowers.

“The earlier stories unfold in a time when love between men was condemned, even dangerous,” Welsh says. “I’ve always been drawn to the lives in the margins — those who love without permission. I wanted to write them not as victims or martyrs, but as people — flawed, tender, resilient. Their love is not spectacle. It’s quiet defiance. A kind of grace.”

Later stories, including “Tracing Roots” and “Tides of Longing”, bring the themes into the present. They capture wanderlust, longing, and the search for belonging that resonate across generations of LGBTQ+ lives. Welsh’s prose balances history and romance, weaving tenderness into landscapes from Madaket to Coral Gables.

When asked what he hopes queer readers will carry from the book, Welsh explains: “I hope they feel seen. These stories are for anyone who has ever loved in the dark, who has ever waited for the world to catch up. If the book offers even a moment of recognition, then it has done what it was meant to do.”

At a time when LGBTQ+ voices are being pushed out of classrooms and libraries, Tides Between Shores stands as both celebration and preservation — a reminder that queer love has always existed, across centuries and shores. As Welsh himself notes: “Because they’ve always been there.”

Tides Between Shores is available now in print and digital formats through major booksellers.