Last Night at the Telegraph Club
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
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4.4 • 26 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE; THE ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN AWARD FOR YOUTH LITERATURE; THE STONEWALL BOOK AWARD (YA); THE PRINTZ HONOR
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'A gripping novel where historical fiction meets romance, Last Night at the Telegraph is a whirlwind read... Immersive and creative.' - Gay Times
'Lo's writing . . . shimmers with the thrills of youthful desire. A lovely, memorable novel' - Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet and The Night Watch.
'An instant classic, the finest LGBTQIA+ romance I've read in ages.' - Bill Konigsberg, award-winning author of The Music of What Happens and The Bridge
From the award winning author of Ash comes a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1950s.
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.
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The year is 1954, and American-born Chinese 17-year-old Lily Hu, a rising senior at San Francisco's Galileo High School, discovers the existence of the Telegraph Club nightclub by chance: via an ad in the Chronicle featuring a Male Impersonator. Lily secretly gathers photos of women with masculine qualities; she's drawn toward "unfeminine" clothing and interests such as chemistry, engines, and space. Dawning recognition of her lesbianism comes alongside a budding connection with Kathleen Miller, a white classmate. But openly exploring queerness isn't an option—not with her mother touting "respectability," and society's limited perception of Chinese-Americanness as either "China doll" or "real American"-adjacent, and especially not amid McCarthyism—during which Chinese people, including those within Lily's close Chinatown community, are targeted as Communist sympathizers. As Lily falls deeper in love, though, she must work to balance the shifting elements of her identity with a landscape of sociopolitical turmoil that will resonate with contemporary readers. Lo incorporates Chinese food and language, appending explanatory footnotes for romanized Cantonese and Mandarin terms and characters. Smoothly referencing cultural touchstones and places with historic Chinese American significance, Lo conjures 1950s San Francisco adeptly while transcending historicity through a sincere exploration of identity and love. Back matter includes an author's note explaining Lo's personal connection to the story. Ages 14–up.
Customer Reviews
Alright!
It was alright! Easy read! Understandable storyline! Dramatic ending!