Post war era life in San Francisco community Chinatown. Friends navigate the expectations of culture, high school, and the LBGTQ+ community underground. Includes historical and family flashbacks to earlier times and hisotorical events.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is an endearing story of life in 1950s Chinatown in San Francisco for a girl who dreams of going to space...and possibly kissing other girls. Lo brings Chinatown to life, both the loving community, and the small town feeling where anyone could be watching you at any moment and tell your parent what they saw you doing. The stakes are not all family drama though - there are real concerns about citizenship, racism, and homophobia. Lo manages to keep those stakes high while still giving our heroine a believable and hopeful happy ending.
The passages with flashbacks from Lily's parents and aunt felt a little jarring at first. While they were a nice way to glimpse into the family history more, it was Lily's story that was really the heart and driving force of the book. The love story, and the story of self-discovery within it, is so heartwarming. I wish we had more historical fiction that told stories like this, and were as well-researched as this.
I have been waiting years to read this book, and it was absolutely worth the wait.

Malinda Lo's much needed entry into young adult historical fiction centers on San Francisco high school student Lily Hu. Set during the 1950s in Chinatown and the surrounding neighborhoods, Lily balances cultural and familial expectations with her passion for science fiction and mathematics, her sexual identity and an important new relationship. Lo incorporates fascinating details of mid-20th century queer life, including male impersonator clubs (the titular Telegraph Club), alongside the very real risk of police raids and arrest, and the lived experiences of Chinese-Americans in the United States. The alternating chapters provide insights into the lives and motivations of Lily’s parents and aunt in the years years prior to the story’s beginning. Lo balances tensions with hope, resulting in a satisfying narrative arc for Lily. Recommended reading for fans of LGBTQ+ history and for readers who appreciate a more inclusive history of the United States.

*This review is based on a pre-publication edition of “Last Night at the Telegraph Club”. Expected publication date: January 2021.

As a middle school teacher, this book is not at all appropriate for my classroom. Here is the review for Goodreads, though:

I can not remember the last time I stayed up to finish a book. I’m writing this review at 2:30 am because this book was OUTSTANDING. I’ve loved Malinda Lo since reading Ash when it first came out. I hate to say it, but Last Night at the Telegraph Club might be her best book?!?!?!

I found Lily’s story riveting, and the history was so rich that this book was totally immersive. I can not recommend this book enough. Read it.

I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

I loved every moment of this book. It was the kind of book that I wanted to extend, wanted to spend several days reading so it wouldn't be over, but I found myself staying up late to finish it because I was so swept up in the writing and the characters.

Lily is a Chinese-American teenager growing up in the 1950s in San Francisco's Chinatown. She sees an ad for Tommy Andrews, a male impersonator, and is desperately drawn to it. With Kath, a new friend, she sneaks out to go to the Telegraph Club, where Tommy Andrews is performing. Lily has always been "a good Chinese girl" but she keeps sneaking out, because is drawn to Tommy, to the Telegraph Club and the openness of the women who attend, and, most strongly, to Kath.

Lily is such an amazing character. She grows so much during the course of this book. I want to keep writing about her and her journey but don't want to include any spoilers, so I'll leave it at that.

I also really appreciated the extended author's note at the end which describes the historical context behind some of the things happening in this book (Communism, China, police raids on gay clubs, etc) as well as Malinda Lo's reasons for telling this story. I could tell this book was very well researched; that showed in both the writing and in the author's note. Highly recommend this book for both teens and adults.