the diverse baseline challenge’s historical fiction prompt gave me an excuse to finally read alyssa cole’s that could be enough. i’ve enjoyed cole’s sapphic stories from her royals collections and figured i would enjoy this historical novella. and i did! the novella follows mercy, eliza hamilton’s Black maid who is helping eliza immortalize her husband by transcribing interviews eliza conducts with people who knew alexander. 

mercy has been hurt by love in the past and has covered her soft spots by being uptight. she doesn’t understand why eliza is so

focused on her husband’s legacy instead of on herself and has sworn off love. of course, then a heavenly Black woman named andromeda arrives to give an interview about her grandfather, and mercy cannot stop staring at her. or thinking about her.

they write letters to each other (swoon, i

love letters), andromeda stops at the house during a storm on her way back from her parents’ and has to stay in mercy’s room because racism, and there’s only one bed. 

in the author’s note at the end, she writes that queer people (including queer bipoc) being accepted by their loved ones and Black female business women are not anachronisms “in the name of happily ever after.” they have always existed. we have always existed. just like queer folks exist in palestine and anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong.  

definitely pick this up if you’re looking for a quick, uplifting Black sapphic story. 

tw: misogyny, racism, sex on page