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LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB

by Malinda Lo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 19, 2021

Beautifully written historical fiction about giddy, queer first love.

Finally, the intersectional, lesbian, historical teen novel so many readers have been waiting for.

Lily Hu has spent all her life in San Francisco’s Chinatown, keeping mostly to her Chinese American community both in and out of school. As she makes her way through her teen years in the 1950s, she starts growing apart from her childhood friends as her passion for rockets and space exploration grows—along with her curiosity about a few blocks in the city that her parents have warned her to avoid. A budding relationship develops with her first White friend, Kathleen, and together they sneak out to the Telegraph Club lesbian bar, where they begin to explore their sexuality as well as their relationship to each other. Lo’s lovely, realistic, and queer-positive tale is a slow burn, following Lily’s own gradual realization of her sexuality while she learns how to code-switch between being ostensibly heterosexual Chinatown Lily and lesbian Telegraph Bar Lily. In this meticulously researched title, Lo skillfully layers rich details, such as how Lily has to deal with microaggressions from gay and straight women alike and how all of Chinatown has to be careful of the insidious threat of McCarthyism. Actual events, such as Madame Chiang Kai-shek’s 1943 visit to San Francisco, form a backdrop to this story of a journey toward finding one’s authentic self.

Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-525-55525-4

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT HISTORICAL FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES

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by Malinda Lo

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PERSPECTIVES

From the Powerless Trilogy series , Vol. 1

by Lauren Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023

A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.

The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.

Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023

ISBN: 9798987380406

Page Count: 538

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE

IF HE HAD BEEN WITH ME

by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2013

There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.

The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.

Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.

Pub Date: April 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES

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by Laura Nowlin

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Last night at the telegraph club, common sense media reviewers.

Unforgettable queer love story set in 1950s San Francisco.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

A lengthy Author's Note about the 1950s touches on

It's important to be who you are, not what someone

While Lily and Kath don't always make good decisio

Lily is Chinese American and Kath is White. Lily's

There's a police raid on The Telegraph Club, but n

There are several brief but graphic sexual images

In the Author's Note, Lo explains that she used th

Characters mention the movie Bambi, shop at Macy's

Adults drink and smoke. The underage Kath and Lily

Parents need to know that Malinda Lo's Last Night at The Telegraph Club , won the 2021 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, It's is a gentle and altogether captivating queer love story set in 1950s San Francisco. High school senior Lily Hu lives with her family in Chinatown and is expected to be…

Educational Value

A lengthy Author's Note about the 1950s touches on everything from Elvis and the Beat culture to a history of San Francisco's Chinatown and its Chinese community, and how the city became an early refuge for queer men and women. The note also tackles serious subjects: how the government and FBI hunted not just for suspected Communists but forced queer people out of jobs because of the belief that homosexuality was somehow linked to Communism.There's also an excellent bibliography of books, articles, and documentary films

Positive Messages

It's important to be who you are, not what someone else thinks you should be.

Positive Role Models

While Lily and Kath don't always make good decisions (sneaking out at night, using fake IDs, and getting drunk), they are courageous; refusing to deny their identities as lesbians and seeing futures for themselves as a pilot or rocket scientist rather than following the stereotypical 1950s path for girls and becoming wives and mothers. At a time when careers in math or science were rarely open to women, Lily's Aunt Judy works as a "computer" (in the 1950s, before computers were widely used, gifted human mathematicians were called "computers") at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Judy is a powerful role model for Lily and never stops encouraging her to pursue her dreams.

Diverse Representations

Lily is Chinese American and Kath is White. Lily's mother was born in the United States while her father was born in China. The family is Christian and active in their church. While it's important to both parent that they're looked upon as a "typical American family," her mother worries about losing their Chinese identity. People make assumptions about Lily because she's Chinese American. She's asked several times "if she speaks English," and someone comments that she's surprised Lily doesn't speak with an accent.

Tommy Andrews, a male impersonator, is a prominent supporting character in the novel. The queer women Kath and Lily get to know at The Telegraph Club are college students, artists, and sales clerks. Some wear cocktail dresses to the club while other trousers, vests, and ties. Lily and Kath's high school has a diverse student body ("Chinese, Italians, Negroes and Caucasians"). Students mingle freely at a school dance but when dancing begins, they never cross racial lines to find a partner. Students are still talking about the scandal that erupted when a Chinese boy began dating a Negro girl.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

There's a police raid on The Telegraph Club, but no one is physically assaulted (the story says police "wielded flashlights" and women were handcuffed). Still. it's an emotionally traumatizing experience for many of the women.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

There are several brief but graphic sexual images and encounters. Reading a book about two women having a love affair, Lily "tugged up the hem of her nightgown and pressed her fingers between her thighs and pressed, and pressed." A kiss between Kath and Lily turns into "an indescribable ache" between Lily's legs and "when Kath's fingers touched her, they both gasped."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

In the Author's Note, Lo explains that she used the terms "Oriental" and "Negro" because they were widely used in the 1950s, but cautions readers that these terms are considered offensive today and should never be used.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Characters mention the movie Bambi , shop at Macy's and drink 7-Up.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults drink and smoke. The underage Kath and Lily drink (sometimes to excess) beer, martinis, and sangria and sometimes smoke cigarettes.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Malinda Lo's Last Night at The Telegraph Club , won the 2021 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, It's is a gentle and altogether captivating queer love story set in 1950s San Francisco. High school senior Lily Hu lives with her family in Chinatown and is expected to be a dutiful Chinese daughter and an All-American girl. What Lily wants to do is work with rockets and try to sort through the confusing feelings she has about her sexuality. Kath Miller is the only other girl in their Advanced Math class and dreams of being a pilot. It's Kath who invites Lily to a lesbian bar called The Telegraph Club, where the girls soon become regulars. Lily and Kath's relationship evolves slowly from handholding to kisses that become "an indescribable ache" between Lily's legs and Kath's fingers touching her in a way that made them both gasp. The girls' love story is set against a backdrop of McCarthyism and the "Red Scare," as the FBI hunts for suspected Communists in San Francisco's Chinatown. The author uses the terms "Oriental" and "Negro" as they were widely used in the 1950s, but cautions readers that these terms are considered offensive today. Last Night at The Telgraph Club also won a 2022 Michael J. Printz Honor Award, ang among the American Library Association's 2022 Youth Media Awards, it won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in the youth category, and the 2020 Stonewall Award.

Where to Read

Community reviews.

• Parents say (4)
• Kids say (3)

Based on 4 parent reviews

Read this with your teenagers

What's the story.

LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB is set in 1950s San Francisco. Lily Hu lives with her parents and two brothers in Chinatown. About to start her senior year, Lily is trying (not always successfully) to juggle identities as a dutiful Chinese American daughter, typical American teenager, budding mathematician and scientist, and one that still mystifies her. That one is all about the feeling she gets whenever she looks at a newspaper photo of a male impersonator who headlines at The Telegraph Club. One day she picks up a book about two women in a sexual relationship. She doesn't dare buy it, but the story "Cracked the last part of the code she had been puzzling over for so long ..." Lily may have cracked the code, but she has no idea what to do next. Until she begins a friendship with Kath Miller, the only other girl in their Advanced Math class. First they bond over unlikely dreams, Kath of becoming a pilot and Lily of working with rockets. When Kath tells Lily she's been to the Telegraph Club and asks if she'd like to go, Lily agrees, even if it means sneaking out of her house. The Telegraph Club opens a whole new world for Lily. It's the first time she meets and gets to know queer women. The feelings Lily and Kath have for each other unfold slowly and tentatively, from being unsure how the other will respond to something a simple as the touch of a hand to finally beginning a sexual relationship. But Lily lives in dangerous times, and not just for queer people. The FBI is hunting for suspected Communists and the Chinese American community is one of their targets.

Is It Any Good?

This unforgettable queer romance is not simply about first love, but about discovering and embracing your many identities and standing up against fear and prejudice. Readers looking only for a love story may sometimes find Last Night at The Telegraph Club tough going. Kath and Lily's story is interrupted by lengthy storylines that follow the lives of Lily's parents and Aunt Judy and by short lists of events and dates (repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the end of the Korean War) from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how frightened Lily and Kath were in Last Night at The Telegraph Club that someone would discover they were lesbians. How do your school and community treat LGBTQ+ teens?

Lily and her best friend Shirley have a falling out because of Lily's friendship with Kath. Have you ever lost a friend over a disagreement? Were you able to mend the friendship?

Lily's Aunt Judy encourages her to literally reach for the stars and pursue her dream of working with rockets. Is there someone in your life who encourages you to reach for the stars?

Book Details

• Author : Malinda Lo
• Genre : Coming of Age
• Topics : Friendship , Great Girl Role Models , High School , History
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Dutton Books for Young Readers
• Publication date : January 19, 2021
• Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
• Number of pages : 416
• Available on : Paperback, Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
• Award : ALA Best and Notable Books
• Last updated : January 24, 2022

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Rainbow Round Table Book and Media Reviews

Book and media reviews from the american library association’s rainbow round table, book review: last night at the telegraph club by malinda lo.

Lo, Malinda. Last Night at the Telegraph Club . Dutton Books. 2021. $18.99. 416p. HC. 9780525555254.

It starts as a few clippings from magazines and newspapers: Katharine Hepburn in trousers, three female pilots sitting casually close to one another, and an ad to see the male impersonator Tommy Andrews perform at the Telegraph Club. She doesn’t know why she feels so compelled to look at these clippings, but in looking she hopes to understand. When a classmate, Kathleen Miller, accidentally sees the clipping of Tommy Andrews, she offers to take Lily to the Telegraph Club to see her in person. With equal measures dread and excitement, Lily steps into a forbidden world.

What follows is a brilliant imagining of what it might have been like to come of age in the 1950s as a Chinese-American and as a lesbian. Malinda Lo did an immense amount of research to ground this book in its setting and flesh out the type of story missing from our archives. The oppressive context of the era looms over Lily’s every decision. It is impossible not to feel the exquisite tension compelling Lily to explore, knowing as we do that she won’t be granted the conventionally happy ending we find in so many modern stories. Yet Lo refuses to sacrifice her heroine to any of the damaging tropes that posit suffering as an inevitability for queers of that era. From beginning to end, this novel is a triumph of possibility in queer storytelling.

Malinda Lo has been a proponent of diversity in books for years, so it’s no surprise that this book is a shining example of representation done well. Last Night at the Telegraph Club is immersive historical fiction that brings to life several diverse threads of the American experience that are often overlooked and oversimplified. The 1950s in particular is a decade that experiences so much whitewashing and heteronormativity in the popular imagination that it feels radical to read about a queer girl in San Francisco’s thriving Chinatown in 1954, all of the details firmly rooted in historical records. It is a gift fashioned from the whispers of our forebears. Fittingly, Lo dedicates the book to butches and femmes of the past, present, and future.

Highly recommended for adults and teens who like their historical fiction queer and accurate, readers looking for stories featuring queer people of color, anyone wanting insight into the Chinese-American experience in San Francisco from the 1930s to the fifties in particular, those who like stories with romance where there’s a lot more going on than just a relationship, and, of course, butches and femmes.

Review by Ashley Dunne

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Last Night at the Telegraph Club

By malinda lo.

These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser.

S eventeen-year-old Lily Hu has spent most of her life in a bubble, surrounded by her Chinese American community in San Francisco. It’s 1954, and she wants to explore more of the city. Along the way, Lily also starts exploring inward, interrogating the connection she’s had with her white friend, Kathleen. One night, the duo secretly ventures out to the Telegraph Club, a nearby lesbian bar, and their romance begins to bloom. Lily embraces her sexuality when she’s out at the bar, but keeps her relationship with Kath quiet at home. Their romance would be unwelcome in Chinatown—and Red Scare paranoia is looming large, already causing stress for her family. A sweeping coming-of-age narrative imbued with deep research, Malinda Lo’s novel, which won a National Book Award in 2021, is a celebration of identity and first love. Like Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt , Lo’s entry into the canon of lesbian romance is significant for its relatively happy ending. — Annabel Gutterman

Buy Now: Last Night at the Telegraph Club on Bookshop | Amazon

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Write to Annabel Gutterman at [email protected]

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Author Interviews

Lo makes national book award history with 'last night at the telegraph club'.

NPR's A Martinez speaks with author Malinda Lo about winning the National Book Award for her novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club , and unconventional characters in storytelling.

Copyright © 2021 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club: A Sensual, Sapphic Triumph

Last Night at the Telegraph Club won the 2021 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Malinda Lo’s latest novel is set in 1950s San Francisco, and tells a story of interracial lesbian love during the height of McCarthyism. On top of being a poignant coming-of-age story, Telegraph Club offers a tantalizing glimpse into San Francisco’s iconic gay scene. The Telegraph Club is a lesbian bar complete with vibrant community and nightlife. And its top draw is Tommy Andrews, male impersonator. After coming across a picture of Tommy in a newspaper, seventeen year old Lily Hu is mesmerised. Emboldened by Kath, the cute baby butch in her math class, Lily sneaks out at night to see Tommy perform. And what she finds at the Telegraph Club opens her mind to a world of new possibilities. In recent years, some people have grown frustrated that coming out stories are overrepresented in depictions of lesbian and gay life. But Lo’s book is highly original – so exquisite in theme and style that she seems to reinvent the coming out trope. And since so few lesbian books or films have an Asian-American lead, the character of Lily Hu goes some way towards filling that gap in representation. Through Lily’s story, Lo shows the discomfort that comes with being part of two communities and fitting in neither. Though Lily feels great pride in Chinatown, it quickly becomes clear that being “a good Chinese girl” means being straight. And though Lily finds the freedom to explore her sexuality in San Francisco’s lesbian scene, she is repeatedly fetishized with the nickname “China Doll” and expected to know every random Asian acquaintance. Telegraph Club will resonate anyone who has ever found herself caught between two sets of cultural expectations. But it would be unfair to dismiss this novel as an “issues book.” Lo’s insightful writing and understated prose create a spellbinding story. As this award demonstrates, she’s a writer at the very top of her game. Telegraph Club is gripping from start to finish, the stakes constantly rising.

The reader knows – as young Lily does not – that she can only sneak out for so long without being caught. And the last lesbian to be outed in Lily’s school became a pariah. It is impossible to read Telegraph Club without feeling invested in Lily, and her budding relationship with Kath. The two girls see things in one another that go unrecognised by everyone else in their lives. Lily takes Kath’s ambition of becoming a pilot seriously, and Kath nurtures Lily’s dreams of outer space. Telegraph Club gives a delicious depiction of the hesitancy that comes with first love. And when that shyness is burned away by passion, it is utterly joyful. Gone are the days when sex was taboo in Young Adult fiction. The NBA panel of judges said the book “glows with desire and hums with sensuality as Sapphic romance flashes against fear and intolerance…. Lo beckons readers sentence by restrained sentence into this incandescent novel of queer possibility.” And yes, it’s fun to read. But – more importantly – this frank depiction of intimacy between Lily and Kath helps to destigmatise lesbian sexuality. Throughout the book, Lily is aware that many see lesbian desire as “unnatural” or “deviant.” And while things have changed for the better since the 1950s, homophobia is still hurting young people. Research shows that LGB youth are twice as likely to be bullied as straight kids, both online and within school property. They’re also four times as likely to have attempted suicide as straight peers. And so it’s powerful that Telegraph Club shows lesbian desire, lesbian community, and lesbian culture without shame; powerful that a proudly lesbian book could win such a prestigious award.

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January 21, 2021 by Amanda MacGregor

Book Review: Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

January 21, 2021 by Amanda MacGregor   Leave a Comment

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Publisher’s description

Acclaimed author of  Ash  Malinda Lo returns with her most personal and ambitious novel yet, a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco’s Chinatown during the 1950s.

“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. 

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America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

Amanda’s thoughts

This will be an illuminating read for modern teens who may not know much about what it was really like to be a queer teen in the 1950s.

It’s 1954 and Lily Hu lives in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She’s heading into her senior year alongside her lifelong best friend, Shirley, who is also Chinese American. One day in a class, Lily is put in a group with Kathleen Miller, a white girl she’s known for years but never really been friends with. Something sparks between them—maybe just a new friendship, maybe a bond over being the only two girls left in their upper-level math class, maybe something more, something Lily doesn’t really understand or have the words for. It takes reading a surreptitiously reading a lesbian pulp novel in the back corner of a store for it all to finally click into place for Lily. But now what?

For Lily, there is so much more going on in her life than just beginning to understand what she may feel for Kath. The FBI takes her father’s citizenship papers when he refuses to give information on one of his patients who’s being investigated for Communist ties. Lily’s friendship with Shirley is under pressure, too. Shirley doesn’t like Lily being friends with Kath (and “warns” her about Kath) and freezes her out until she needs her help for the Miss Chinatown pageant. Lily feels the push and pull between her various identities, always feeling singled out for all the ways she is “other.”

Through repeated clandestine trips to the Telegraph Club, a lesbian bar, to see a “male impersonator,” Lily and Kath come to understand more about their identity and the nearby lesbian community, especially when they are befriended by some of the older lesbians who frequent the club. But that hardly makes anything simpler—in fact, it just complicates things. How can Lily possibly live her truth in this era? And even if she and Kath feel the same way about each other, now what? More sneaking, hiding, being afraid of being seen?

This layered story also offers brief chapters about Lily’s mom, dad, and aunt from various points in time, helping flesh out more of what was going on, historically, at this time in the United States and specifically in Chinese American relations. Extensive back matter on the era and culture at the time provide additional insight. As can be expected of a historical fiction story set in the 1950s, there are plenty of racist and outdated terms used and the story is built on a foundation of the homophobia of the time (this is also discussed in the back matter.)

The way the story ultimately unfolds may be kind of predictable in the sense that it’s probably easy to guess how things may go for Kath and Lily—it’s hardly going to be an easy road for them. Though I would have liked to see some scenes or threads of the story fleshed out more and followed through with better, this was ultimately an enjoyable and thoughtful, personal look at one girl’s journey to self and identity. Pair with Robin Talley’s Pulp (set in 1955 Washington D.C.) for an even more comprehensive look at what it meant to be a queer teen in the 50s.

Review copy (digital ARC) courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9780525555254 Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group Publication date: 01/19/2021 Age Range: 14 – 17 Years

Filed under: Uncategorized

About Amanda MacGregor

Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on Twitter @CiteSomething.

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Last Night At The Telegraph Club: A Book Review

It was only in January 2021, Malinda Lo published her latest young adult historical fiction novel, Last Night At The Telegraph Club . Yet, it’s already on track to be a classic in LGBTQ+ literature. But Last Night At The Telegraph Club is not Malinda Lo’s first queer romance or WLW book. Ash , another one of Lo’s novels, reimagines the Cinderella fairy tale with the main character as a lesbian teenager. A Line in the Dark is another young adult mystery novel with a lesbian main character. However, the historical nature and intersectional lens of Last Night At The Telegraph Club makes it a must-read of Lo’s.

Last Night At The Telegraph Club presents the story of a Chinese American protagonist

Last Night At The Telegraph Club follows the journey of seventeen-year-old Chinese American, Lily Hu as she falls in love and discovers herself. Set in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1950’s, Lily begins to question herself and her future as she enters her senior year of high school.

Lily’s senior year is a time marked by curiosity, exploration, and change. Her passion for rockets, outer space, and STEM continues to grow, conflicting with rigid familial, societal, and cultural expectations. She becomes friends with Kathleen Miller, her first white friend, distancing herself from her childhood Chinese American friends. Together, they secretly attend the Telegraph Club, a lesbian bar in San Francisco, gradually exploring and realizing their sexualities. However, this isn’t simply a novel with LGBTQ+ representation; Lily Hu’s journey unfolds amidst the Red Scare , homophobia and sexism running rampant.

The book narrates Lily’s point of view alongside a historically accurate timeline of the 1950’s

Lily Hu is an easy main character to emphasize with, follow, and understand in Last Night At The Telegraph Club . Her narration is introspective and attentive. She maintains a perfect balance between courage and naivety, which is challenging to find in many main characters. Her perspective reveals a ravenous desire to see the otherness in people that she feels in herself. On some level, she understands she is different from what others think and expect of her. Event then, she refuses to be swallowed by confusion and isolation any longer. After attending the Telegraph Club, Lily recognizes and perceives the potential otherness in other people that she craves:

“She realized, with a jolt, that the city must be peppered with women who frequented the Telegraph or similar clubs; women who watched performers like Tommy Andrews, made friends with each other, made girlfriends with each other. At each intersection she cast skittish glances at the women waiting for the light to change, wondering if she was one of them too, or her, or her.” – Excerpt from Last Night At The Telegraph Club

Beyond Lily’s narration, readers notice the thorough research Malinda Lo conducted to create a historically accurate novel. The timelines scattered throughout the book, including historical and fictional events relating to the characters, added to the novel’s authenticity. I found it fascinating to read about this intersectional history largely left unexplored in fictional literature. The timeline helped guide me as a reader through the experiences and environments of each character.

Malinda Lo’s intersectional approach towards identity

The novel’s intersectional lens is invaluable. What makes Last Night At The Telegraph Club so compelling is Lily’s journey to unearth her intersectional identities—as a lesbian, a woman, and Chinese American—during a time when the world held little respect for these identities. Lily fights to understand herself and her growing identities in this unsupportive environment. When Lily finds a queer romance novel in a convenience store that she reads later on, she “decodes” herself:

“She felt as if she had finally cracked the last part of a code she had been puzzling over for so long that she couldn’t remember when she had started deciphering it.” – Excerpt from Last Night At The Telegraph Club

Not only does Lily struggle to understand herself but she also wrestles with choosing between her developing identities, especially considering the impact they have on one another. As a Chinese American, Lily and her family are under constant scrutiny for communist tendencies. Evidence of having these beliefs, even if unfounded, often resulted in deportation. This made Lily’s queer identity even more of a threat to her and her family’s lives.

At the same time, Lily craves a future in STEM, specifically exploring space travel. STEM is a male-dominated career field, unusual not only for women but also for Chinese Americans at the time. Lily’s status as a woman and a Chinese American restricts and limits her in this field. Being a Chinese American also forces Lily under the spotlight with unwanted attention for being queer. But the bright lights and spotlight of the Telegraph Club end up showing Lily the very answers she needs. 

Going beyond a queer romance

By the end of the novel, Lily comes to embrace and discover all of her identities by not giving any up. She claims her place in the world; she dares for more than what’s expected of her from cultural, familial, and societal obligations and restrictions.

What the cover might not show is this book is about more than finding one’s queer identity or queer romance. It’s a story about dreaming of things much bigger than you or the world (like outer space). It’s about experiencing your first love, understanding familial cultures, trauma, and conflict. It’s about growing up in Chinatown during the Red Scare, living in San Francisco, being a teenager, and childhood friendships that fade.

Regardless of the darker tones and moments of the narrative, Last Night At The Telegraph Club manages to imbue an aura of comfort and warmth consistently. The intersecting themes of internalized homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, trauma, and repression could have dominated the novel. Yet, the broad takeaway is one of belonging and self-discovery. Despite the existence and persistence of these hardships, there is a vibrant counter-culture of warmth, belonging, identity, love, and found family.

Minimal critiques of Last Night At The Telegraph Club

One of my only critiques of Last Night At The Telegraph Club pertains to the flashbacks from Lily’s relatives. Though these chapters expand the cultural context and give depth to the characters, I felt they halted the story’s flow. These chapters disrupted the novel’s chronological progression since some of the timelines overlap with each other. However, the journeys explored in these chapters unveil the heartfelt stories and perspectives of immigrants and children of diaspora in a personal, informative way that Lily’s perspective could not reveal. I only wish Malinda Lo organized or formatted these chapters differently.

One critique other readers might have of Last Night At The Telegraph Club is the story’s pacing. The book isn’t as fast-paced or action-packed, which might discourage many readers. But I realized this historical fiction novel is not about thrilling, action-filled, suspenseful moments. Rather, this book excels in its detailed, beautiful depiction of the minor details from discovering your authentic self to your first love from the 1950’s to Chinese American culture. 

Overall, the well-researched nature of the story, along with its skillful presentation of intersectionality, cements this novel as one of my favorite reads of the year. Not only is this novel a beautiful, heart-wrenching read, it also educates readers on relatively unknown perspectives of historical events. It’s a genuine representation novel, illustrating how it’s possible to live as a woman, a lesbian, and a Chinese American in a world that denies these coexisting identities. Last Night At The Telegraph Club encourages its readers to find their place in the world, to dare for more, to uncover and embrace their true selves without fear or hesitation.

The next time you find yourself at your local library or bookstore, take the time to make this novel your next read. That being said, this novel may be triggering for some with its mentions of racism, homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny/sexism, and miscarriage. Therefore, caution is necessary before reading.

My rating of Last Night At The Telegraph Club :

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Reading guide for Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Summary  |  Excerpt  |  Reading Guide  |  Reviews  |  Beyond the Book  |  Read-Alikes  |  Genres & Themes  |  Author Bio

Last Night at the Telegraph Club

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• First Published:
• Jan 19, 2021

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Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

• Jet Propulsion Laboratory – women computers; Dr. Hsue-shen Tsien
• Lesbian and Gay Community – San Francisco (1950s)
• Male Impersonators – performers; lesbian and gay clubs (1920s-1950s)
• Lesbian Pulp Fiction – publication, tropes, and popularity (1950 onward)
• San Francisco Chinatown – Chinatown and its community; Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
• San Francisco Landmarks – ex. Musée Mécanique, Sutro's, California Academy of Sciences
• China in World War II – Madame Chiang Kai-shek, US tour; Second Sino-Japanese War
• McCarthyism – suspicion of Chinese Americans, Lavender Scare
• Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, From Missiles to the Moon to Mars (2016) by Nathalia Holt
• Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 (2005) by Nan Alamilla Boyd
• All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages (2018) edited by Saundra Mitchel

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Dutton for Young Readers. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.

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Last Night at the Telegraph Club Library Binding – Large Print, October 6, 2021

• Print length 709 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Thorndike Striving Reader
• Publication date October 6, 2021
• Grade level 7 - 9
• Dimensions 5.75 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
• ISBN-10 1432888765
• ISBN-13 978-1432888763
• See all details

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thorndike Striving Reader; Large type / Large print edition (October 6, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Library Binding ‏ : ‎ 709 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1432888765
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1432888763
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 - 9
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.76 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
• #1,714 in Teen & Young Adult LGBTQ+ Romance
• #1,815 in Teen & Young Adult LGBTQ+ Fiction (Books)
• #2,189 in Teen & Young Adult Historical Romance

About the author

Malinda Lo is the bestselling author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, winner of the National Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award, and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, as well as Michael L. Printz and Walter Dean Myers honors. Her debut novel Ash, a Sapphic retelling of Cinderella, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award and the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the Lambda Literary Award. She can be found on social media @malindalo or at malindalo.com.

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Vandegrift Voice

“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” book review

malindalo.com

Published in January of 2021, “Last Night at the Telegraph Club,” is a historical fiction romance novel in 1954 America.

Abby Lincks , Editor February 10, 2022

Red Scare paranoia is rising, and deportation is a threat to everyone around. After Lily’s father is accused of defending and hiding the identity of a communist, his citizenship papers are taken away. Even Chinese Americans like Lily are at risk, leaving her family in a standstill of fear. America in 1954 is not kind to many, but Last Night At The Telegraph Club highlights the individuals who dare to keep dreaming. 

Author Malinda Lo includes a helpful timeline, interspersed through four different sections of the book. Including actual events like, Japan invades Manchuria (1931) and the Chinese Exclusion Act is repealed (1943) with fictional events pertaining to the plot. This makes Last Night at the Telegraph Club an excellent introduction to Chinatown in 1954 San Francisco, especially to inexperienced readers. 

In the back of this community’s mind, Red Scare paranoia, deportation and prejudice are a major threat. But they go forward with their lives as American citizens and support each other through a strong sense of community. In descriptions of food prepared and passed around the Hu family table, like nien-kao (New Year sweet rice cake), lo-han chai (vegetarian dish), hsün yü (Shanghai smoked fish) and pa pao fan (steamed sticky rice filled with sweet bean paste), readers can learn more about Chinese culture through the Hu family.

In addition, short flashback chapters between Lily’s parents, Grace and Joseph Hu, are present throughout the novel. This introduces a new lens different from the main perspective of Lily. Inclusion of decades past perspectives captures the generational effects Lily’s parents have had on her own life, but also for their own careers and futures amidst the end of a war, connecting the parallels and differences between parent and child. 

Last Night at the Telegraph Club tackles popular perceptions of the 1950’s from stereotypes about Chinese Americans to the LGBTQ scene. Lo doesn’t shy away from terms and ideas to shield the reality of the times. 

In an interview on the blog We Need Diverse Books , Lo said, “The vast majority of fiction about queer women is contemporary because until very recently, most people denied the fact that queer people even existed before modern times.”

Later, Lily befriends fellow classmate Kathleen ‘Kath’ Miller, and as the two begin to learn more about each other, a strong, special bond is formed. Both Hu and Miller find a safeplace in each other to confide over self-identity and dreams they both secretly want to obtain. Their dynamic, interesting personalities and backgrounds left me intrigued throughout, always wanting more dialogue that I wish Lo included more of. 

I absolutely adored this book. It was compelling, educational and a lot of the time, it was heartwarming to read. Malinda Lo’s writing was superb and I will definitely be looking for more published works of hers. Before, I hesitated to reach for historical fiction due to the complexity of world-building within; but Last Night at the Telegraph Club has completely flipped my perspective. 

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Book Review: Last Night at the Telegraph Club

When a friend recommended Last Night at the Telegraph Club , I had high expectations.  Last Night at the Telegraph Club, written by Malinda Lo, is a young adult historical novel that takes place in the 1950s in San Francisco. Initially, I was excited to read a sapphic novel with a POC main character set in a local city, and although the story was beautiful, I was left disappointed.  

The novel follows the life of Lily Hu, a Chinese-American girl, as she develops a romantic relationship with another girl at her school. Lily is a straight-A student with dreams of traveling to space. However, Lily feels as if her dreams are just dreams due to the responsibilities of being the eldest child. As she gets closer to graduating, her friendship with her childhood best friend, Shirley, starts to deteriorate. Their friendship falls apart even faster when Lily befriends Kat, a girl who many assume to be a lesbian. Shirley doesn’t like Kat because she’s concerned about the repercussions of being associated with an assumed lesbian. 

When Kat invites Lily to the Telegraph Club, a hidden gay bar in SF, Lily is overwhelmed. Lo does an amazing job of describing the ease and freedom clubgoers feel as they are finally allowed to be themselves. Even though it’s a very loved space, we can understand why Lily feels so overwhelmed. She wants to love the club, but she hasn’t accepted herself yet so the club is hard to adjust to. Although the Telegraph Club is a safe space, there are times when racist remarks targeted at Lily make her feel like an outsider. The racism is just Lo using time-period appropriate language, but the lack of confrontation makes it uncomfortable. I wished Lo had done something in those scenes, like having a character telling another to not call Lily “China Doll.” Additionally, the way Lo set up scenes with Lily being called “China Doll” and Lily calling African-Americans “Negroes” made me believe the plot was going to be focused on race, but it wasn’t. The lack of action when it came to these racial comments and Lily’s dismissal of them seems like something that could’ve been confronted more directly. Lo also leaves some details unexplained in the book. For instance, one of the characters is worried that their father may be deported because of an FBI investigation. However, it was never mentioned again. This is also done with Kat’s character. I cannot tell you ten things I know about Kat because there is not much written about her. It doesn’t take away from the overall experience of the book, but it does seem weird in retrospect. It’s as if Lo didn’t fully develop one of the main characters. 

When Shirley confronts Lily about her secret life at the Telegraph Club, Lily becomes emotionally distraught. Even though I saw it coming, that was the most hurtful scene in the book. When Lily ends their friendship, rumor spreads about Lily and the Telegraph Club. Lily’s mother tries to get Lily to deny the rumors for the sake of the family reputation and to also save  Lily from “that” life. Refusing to lie about herself, Lily runs away to find Kat. Although my favorite chapter follows that scene, at that point, it felt as if Lo couldn’t wait for the book to end. The ending was dull and fast-forwarded into the future, where there is no mention of the past. Overall, the ending was out of tune with the previous writing and completely unsatisfactory. 

After having read the novel, I would give it an 8.5 out of 10. I was hesitant to give this book an 8.5 instead of a 7, but I think I was too critical. My high expectations of a revolutionary tale may have kept me from truly enjoying the story, but I also think that in the moment of reading, I did enjoy the story. It’s not until I reflect on it that I realize its shortcomings. The novel is less of a beautifully written sapphic love story and more of a series of glimpses into the lives of people Lily loves. My favorite chapter is the one containing the scene in which Lily’s father takes her mother out and falls in love with her all over again. I think it’s telling of the story that the best-written love scene is between a heterosexual couple. Still, I liked this book and would read it again. Malinda Lo has written a stirring tale and it provides comfort for those who prioritize upholding family expectations over being themselves.

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Book Club Discussion Post: Last Night at the Telegraph Club

May 20, 2022 by faintingviolet 27 Comments

Welcome to our our AAPI-themed Cannon Book Club discussion of Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club ! In this National Book Award-winner, Malinda Lo challenges popular perceptions of the 1950s, including stereotypes about Chinese Americans, the invisibility of the lesbian and gay community, and the role of women in the space program, particularly as computers.

For those of you returning or who might be joining in for #CannonBookClub for the first time (hello new friends!) all are welcome, you don’t have to be registered for CBR14 to comment below.  The topics are numbered, so please refer to them below by that number to help people find the conversations they are looking for; and only respond to one topic per comment to help keep things clear. If you are responding to someone else’s thoughts, please try to reply directly to that comment.

Even if you weren’t able to get your review written yet , don’t worry – all are welcome here in this post’s comments or our Social Media platform discussions , In our Facebook group, Cannonball Read Book Chat   we’ll have some additional prompts so please join us there as well.

Registered participants in this year’s Cannonball Read 14 can join the #CannonBookClub Zoom on Saturday, May 21 at 1pm Eastern. Those Cannonballers should have already received connection details by email. ( Contact us if you haven’t!) If you’re not registered, but would like to; please drop us a line to get signed up and receive the Zoom details.

Now, on to the questions!

• Malinda Lo interprets historical events and facts to create the bedrock of her story. What did you take away from this book that you might not have found by reading a history book?
• So much of LGBTQ+ history is about reading between the lines and understanding the meaning behind coded words and actions. As Lo built this into her narrative, how did it impact your reading experience?
• Have you read another story featuring queer characters in love that is not contemporary? Have you read another queer love story at all? What impact did that have on your enjoyment of the book?
• Who are the people in your own life that get you to look closely at yourself and the world around you? Were similar people represented in the characters of this book?
• Lo writes in one of her Notes from the Telegraph Club , “So much of discovering who you are involves seeing who other people are and asking yourself, consciously or subconsciously, am I like them? ” How does Lo build this into Lily’s story?
• What stood out to you in the way Last Night at the Telegraph Club handles homophobia and anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes in addition to racism, xenophobia, and immigration?
• In some ways this is a story that focuses on the conflict between duty and desire. How did you feel about the balance by the end for our lead characters?
• I’ve got something to talk about that isn’t covered above, meet me in the comments!

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Last Night at the Telegraph Club Is A Good Read

I’ve been hearing about this book through BookTok called Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo and it was soo good!

It’s about two teenage girls in 1950s California discovering themselves and falling in love with each other during the times that China and the US had tension with each other.

This book had won several awards and I truly did enjoy the characters and her writing. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for characters that are LGBTQ :)

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