A coming-out story that hasn't previously been told. Teenage Lily lives in San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1950s, and until now has always been known as a 'good Chinese girl'. Through a new friendship and visits to the Telegraph Club, she gradually comes to the realisation that she is a lesbian. There is some period-accurate homophobia, but also beautiful depictions of queer community and love. Lily's Chinese heritage, based on Lo's own family history, is also significant to the story and is woven in beautifully. Lo describes the novel in her afterword as her endeavour to 'un-erase' Asian American queer women who lived during this period, and she succeeds triumphantly. Definitely of interest to adults as well as teens, particularly fans of Sarah Waters.

Lily's struggle to be herself was incredibly relatable and heartbreaking, and the last half of the book was incredible.

DNF. I read about a third of it, and it's clear it's very well-written, with a wonderfully developed main character and a setting described so thoughtfully and lovingly that it's almost a character itself. There's so much history woven into this book, it's clear the author undertook a massive amount of research. I'm just not much for historical fiction, although I was taken by the longing and fear the main character felt toward queerness.

In this historical fiction YA novel set in San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1950s, seventeen-year-old Lily Hu discovers herself and a new community of people like her at the Telegraph Club, a lesbian night club. Alongside Kath, she meets some incredible new women who begin to show her that there's a place for people like her, even in a time where being different can mean trouble. McCarthyism is in full swing, and as the daughter of a Chinese-American woman and a Chinese immigrant, she knows full well the kind of difficulties standing out can get you-- especially as her father's naturalization papers are taken in the wake of a investigation into communism in Chinatown. He earned those papers through service in the army during WWII, but now his status in is danger simply because he refuses to play into the hands of those stoking the Red Panic. And to have a gay daughter on top of that? Lily's not sure her parents can take it. But with Kath at the Telegraph Club, Lily can forget those worries for a moment--even if she is the only Chinese girl in the room and no one will let her forget it.

An excellent read that delivers a real sucker punch of emotions. Lo's writing is full of heart and rich historical details, and I just couldn't get enough.

LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB is a coming-of-age YA historical novel that is so rich in detail. Malinda Lo captures many layers of a queer Chinese American teen’s experiences in 1954. I loved the sweet and gradual progression of the relationship between Lily and Kath, and that they support each other’s dreams. There's a storyline about Lily growing apart from her best friend that felt so relatable; she want to hold onto those memories and the familiarity, but knows that they no longer see eye-to-eye. This book truly feels like a window into Lily’s life; I felt like I was walking through Chinatown with her, experiencing her visit to Sutro’s Museum on an overcast day, and feeling her rising anger at being told how impressive it is that she speaks unaccented English.

The author’s note at the end (a must-read!) reflects how much research, care, and thought that Malinda Lo put into this book. There's so much historical context! The Red Scare even affects Lily directly when her father’s citizenship papers are taken away after being suspected of Communist ties. In addition, at the end of each part of the book, there’s a chapter set in the past from the perspective of one of Lily’s parents or her aunt. These chapters offered more insight about the Chinese American experience during the time period, although they pulled me out of Lily’s story.

Overall, this was such a memorable read and I highly recommend it!

Honestly, this is the type of historical fiction that I have been waiting for. I am so tired of the WWII stories that only feature white cishet characters as if BIPOC and queer folks simply didn't exist. Anyways...

It is evident from the beginning the sheer amount of thorough research that the author conducted and poured into this story. The story is set in 1950s San Francisco Chinatown. This is a time period where women stopped education after high school in favor of a traditional nuclear family. Interracial marriage was still illegal. Same-sex relationships were viewed as perverse, sexual deviant behavior. And all of this is in addition to the Red-Scare paranoia that was deeply rooted on US soil. And the author beautifully weaves all of this together when telling Lily Hu's story.

The Telegraph Club quite literally is the sanctuary for queer folks to come and shed the guises that they wear in order to fit in and conform to society. From the beginning, Lily's sexual identity is clear, but her suppression due to the need to be a "good Chinese girl" for her family and community as well as to avoid being the target of gossip at school was heart wrenching. So watching Lily change from being this hesitant and insecure person regarding her sexuality to fully embracing her identity and finding those who love her for her at The Telegraph Club was amazing.

There were so many other things about this story that I absolutely loved (e.g. Lily's determination to continue an education in STEM, which was unheard of for women at the time, the racism and hardships that Chinese Americans faced during this time period thanks to McCarthyism, and the vastness of the queer community during a time period when it "just didn't happen").

Being a Bay Area native, I was very excited to read this book. And Malinda Lo did not let me down. The writing, the pacing, the story and descriptions gave to a beautiful historical fiction that I seeing myself rereading.

4 1/2 stars rounded up

Malinda Lo’s LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB is a lovely, tender coming-of-age queer novel about 17-year-old Lily Hu falling for her classmate Kath in 1950s San Francisco Chinatown.

I’ve never read YA historical fiction featuring a queer Asian American girl, which makes this a special read for me. Also, Lo covers an ambitious scope with the 1950s backdrop- when being gay was not culturally acceptable and homosexuality thought of as a psychotic disorder, the effects of McCarthyism on Chinese Americans, and being Asian in predominantly white spaces, like the Telegraph Club’s lesbian bar.

The flashbacks provide historical context and thought those parts would dramatically convey the looming threat of deportation, with Lily’s father’s suspected Communist ties and, therefore, the need to maintain the status quo and look more “American.” But LAST NIGHT is at its most compelling in the way Lo writes Lily’s self-discovery and desire, balancing multiple identities (what’s expected of Lily with her family and friends in Chinatown vs. being with Kath and the women she meets at the Telegraph Club), and her budding romance with Kath.

I LOVED the Author’s Note about Lo’s personal connection, extensive research and careful consideration when writing about this time in history, including a select bibliography of sources.

Lo writes how difficult it was finding histories of queer Asian American women. This novel gives voices to those whose stories have been erased.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is the story of Lily Hu, a Chinese-American girl living in 1950s San Francisco Chinatown. It's a coming of age exploration of being Chinese in an America obsessed with the Red Scare and McCarthyism, but also exploring sexual orientation and gender expression in an era when such things could get you arrested or worse, AND tackling the issues faced by women historically in the STEM fields.

That's a lot to tackle in one book. While most of the book follows Lily and her budding romance with classmate Kath, the author tackles the other issues by periodically bouncing back in time with Lily's older relatives. It helps build understanding about the Hu Family's history in America, the issues they all faced in daily life, the systemic racism that kept Chinese-Americans in daily fear and the precariousness of their situation, etc. I particularly enjoy the sections featuring Lily's aunt Judy, who works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She serves as a mentor for Lily's career aspirations, but also reflects the realities of systemic sexism faced by women in STEM fields.

Historical lesbian fiction? Oh yes please. Then add in malinda lo and the coming of age Chinese American? Chefs miss

This is a beautiful story about a girl, Lily, finding out about herself during a time when being a homosexual was severely frowned upon. I loved the connection between Lily and Kath!

This is a necessary book that is getting so much love right now, for good reason. Telling the story of young gay women in 1950's San Francisco, how is this NOT been written before? Malinda Lo writes from the heart in this well-researched, moving book about one young woman willing to risk it all for love.

I really wanted to love this- the themes were fabulous but the pacing was to slow for me. I would still recommend this to teens and it has great representation LGBTQ+ and Asian.

*arc given to me by penguinteen in exchange for an honest review*

5/5 stars
***
Wow. This book is absolutely gorgeous. As a lover of history, culture, and wlw romance, Malinda Lo combined all three of them in beautiful harmony in 'Last Night at the Telegraph Club'. Her writing style is descriptive and detailed without being unnecessary, and the way she is able to express Lily's discovery, hesitance, and acceptance of her sexuality is remarkable. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I adore Lily's character. The representation of Chinese culture during the peak of the Red Scare in America is also very well done, and if you are someone who enjoys learning about reality (in a way that is not boring and makes you want to keep going) while reading a fictional story, Lo has done an exceptional job.

So thankful I was able to read this book!

Last Night at the Telegraph Club
By Malinda Lo

Chinese-American
Queer historical fiction San Francisco Chinatown
Set in the 1950's Red Scare

An incredible and beautifully well-written and well-researched novel set in San Francisco during the red scare. It is a story about immigration, culture, identity and one of blemished part of our American history. I thought that the relationship and the characters were so well written, my heart was about to burst. This is a true gem of a book and as a historical fiction lover and lover of YA books, this combination with the queer love story was a winner.

I cannot recommend this enough.

Lily is trying hard to be the perfect Chinese daughter in 1950s San Francisco, but she's more interested in rockets than the Miss Chinatown pageant. She is also beginning to think she's a lesbian. Last Night is a layered look at being Chinese during the McCarthy's Communist hunts, being a teenager in two worlds, and exploring the lesbian community. lily and her friend Kath are welcomed into the lesbian family, but shunned by their real families. historical accurate in all facets, this book is a welcome look at a lesser-known time and place.

I had such high hopes for this book. It had so many components that I was happy to see. There were Chinese born and Chinese American characters. Lily the MC is Chinese American. The setting was in China Town San Francisco, which is literally 40 minutes from my house. And because it was in the 1950’s it also addressed the Red Scare where Chinese struggled in the US because so many were thought to be Communists, so some interesting history as well.
Lily wasn’t just a Chinese American she was also a teenager growing up in a traditional Chinese home and struggling to come to terms with her sexuality and that she might be a lesbian. Homosexuality was looked upon as deviant behavior in the 1950’s and even more shameful in the Chinese culture. So Lily was at a cross roads trying to figure out if she truly was gay. She had to hide her thoughts and actions from friends and family and started exploring her feelings by going to The Telegraph Club with her classmate and possible love interest Kath. The Telegraph Club was a place for lesbian women to be themselves and enjoy the male impersonator singing talent of Tommy Andrews.

I was excited to read a book with all of these interesting factors so I was a little let down when it just didn’t click for me.
It wasn’t a bad book by any means and Malinda Lo has a talent for story telling. I definitely enjoyed parts of it but I just didn’t feel a major connection to the characters and that is very important to me.

I want to thank @penguinteen for the gifted ARC.
This book is out now if you would like to get your own copy. If it sounds interesting to you I definitely would recommend giving it a try. Everyone has different tastes.

I enjoyed the book immensely. Lily is a character you immediately root for. I cared about her and what happened to her more than most books I read. I loved the setting, America in the 1950s, specifically in China Town.

Lily's fears are greater than most; dealing with realizing she is a lesbian and what that means in her culture and family, and also having to deal with the weight of Chinese Communism hanging over her and having to make sure she was not seen to be a communist.

So why am I giving it just four stars and not five? Personal preference on reading material. I like snappier plots. This kind of story requires a lot more introspection than what I prefer. It is still an amazing book.

This book was an amazing harmony of uplifting and broken sobbing. This historical fiction novel about lesbians has made me feel so much in one single book. The book shines a light on the lives of queer Americans who are lost in history as insignificant or not white enough to remember. The research put into this is evident. The love and care taken in crafting this beautiful story is inspiring. I loved reading about Lily's journey through the queer community of San Francisco in an era where queerness was buried and never acknowledged. This book is going to live rent free in my head for months to come.

Malinda Lo creates an impressive immersive experience in this well-researched novel. Lily is a Chinese-American teenager in 1950’s San Francisco, coming to terms with her sexuality with the help of the denizens of the Telegraph Club while the Red-Scare looms over her family. Last Stop at the Telegraph did show the realistic period-typical bigotry, but it was never gratuitous or shoe-horned in as some dramatic historical fiction can do just for the sake of drama. Lily’s worries and fears about her family are heartbreakingly real, and her burgeoning lesbian romance is wonderfully authentic. This was an engrossing and compelling novel, and I’m glad we have more stories like this in the world.