Lately, I have been really enjoying queer novellas from the publisher Tordotcom. I had a blast with Elaine Gallagher’s Unexploded Remnants and loved Charlotte Bond’s The Fireborne Blade and its sequel, The Bloodless Princes. The next novella on my reading list is C.L. Polk’s sapphic fantasy noir Even Though I Knew the End.” My expectations for this novella were pretty high given the other Tordotcom novellas I had read and the fact that it had won the 2033 Nebula Award for Best Novella. I am happy to report that it blew past my expectations and ended up being one of the best urban fantasy stories, and possibly best novellas, I have ever read.
Helen Brandt is a private eye focusing on the magical and mystical in 1930s Chicago. When one of her clients, the sultry demon Marlowe, asks her to find the White City Vampire, Helen initially refuses. There’s no way she’s going to go after the deadliest killer in the city, especially when she’s only got a few days left to spend with her partner Edith before she is dragged to hell. Ten years ago, Helen sold her soul to save her brother’s life and the bill has now come due. When Marlowe offers Helen her soul in return for finding the White City Vampire, though, things change. Helen takes the case and dives headlong into the world of Chicago’s divine monsters in the hopes of finding the city’s most notorious killer. Success means a long and happy life with the woman she loves. Failure means heartbreak and an eternity of misery.
In Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk takes the tools of noir fiction and crafts a beautiful sapphic love story. Helen is a fantastic protagonist, a grizzled private eye with some real self-destructive tendencies. Her internal dialogue felt authentically 1930s noir in the best ways without ever going too heavy on obtuse vernacular. Like many protagonists in the noir genre, she has some cynicism and selfishness to her, but it is tempered by how much she cares for her brother, Edith, and the people in her community. In fact, her cynicism is a product of seeing how the world reacts to her expressing her love as well as how 1930s society treats queer women. She has always done whatever it takes to protect the people she loves and the world has punished her for it. It’s hard not to fall in love with a character like that.
C.L. Polk also did a great job balancing themes of familial and romantic love with some of the darker themes that you would typically find in a noir. There are some truly dark moments that happen in this story, but we never linger on them too long. I’m also a sucker for complex stories involving angels and demons, and this novella delivers.
The romance between Helen and Edith, though, is the highlight of the entire book. They are a great couple and balance each other out well, leaving little doubt that they are meant to be together. Their love also sells the entire story, as you really want Helen to win back her soul so she can stay with Edith forever. Of course, this being a noir, nothing works out perfectly, making for a beautifully tragic love story that celebrates sapphic love in a time where that was not always possible and in a genre that very rarely has done so.
The novella also has really great pacing to it. Short, punchy chapters lead you into the world of a magical 1930s Chicago and slowly reveal its secrets. Each chapter gives you a little more information about the characters, the world they inhabit, and, most importantly, who the White City Vampire is. This gave the story some real momentum that kept me glued to each and every page until the final thrilling climax.
As I kind of alluded to earlier, Even Though I Knew the End doesn’t shy away from the reality of being sapphic in pre-Stonewall America. C.L. Polk shows us the reality of not being allowed to be out and having to go underground to find queer community. They show us the danger that was inherent to being found out as queer in that time. It’s both a testament to how far we have come and a warning to make sure we never return to that reality. I also appreciate how this thread is not tied directly to the main plot. It makes for a good reminder of our past and a good bit of worldbuilding without giving the story a “bury your gays” vibe.
As far as novella go, Even Though I Knew The End is one of the best ones that I have ever read. If you’re looking to spend a few hours or, if you’re an easily distracted reader like me, an entire day immersed in a story about angels, demons, a mystical private eye, and the woman she loves, you will have a blast with this book.
