Last Night at the Telegraph Club

This is the story of 17-year old Lily Hu in 1950s San Francisco Chinatown and her slow and risky introduction into lesbianism. It's all embedded within real historical events, with so many references to things and places and events and people that actually existed (the Author's Note explains a lot of them - well-researched! and if you want to read up on them, there's even a bibliography list). I devoured this book with lots of joy. It's interesting and thrilling and capturing. Go read it!

It is a story where bad things happen to the queers, but it's not a tragic story. Things go on, people can leave, and find each other again.

I'm often easily bored by historical fiction (idk why!) but this worked very well for me.

It’s 1954 and the Red Scare is in full force. Chinese Americans such as Lily’s family must keep a low profile or risk being accused of Communism and deported. When Lily finds an advert for a male impersonator performing in San Francisco, she is drawn to her in a way she doesn’t understand. At school her best friend frowns upon her growing friendship with Kathleen, who leads Lily through the doors of the Telegraph Club, to a forbidden world where Lily can be free to be herself.

Even in San Francisco, the fifties were not a good time to be gay, with homosexuality still outlawed and venues like the Telegraph Club were frequently shut down due to obscenity laws, accusing them of leading young women into acts of depravity. In contrast, Lily and Kathleen’s story is so sweet and your heart will break at how hard it is for them to be together.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is wonderfully researched historical fiction, pulling in so many details into the background. Lily looks up to her aunt who works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lily would like nothing more than to go to space, at the time an impossible dream for a girl, let alone a lesbian from an immigrant family.

Lily innocently attends a picnic which puts her family’s citizenship at risk, showing how McCarthyism unfairly treated families who had built a life for themselves in America. Through flashbacks, Lily’s parents are fleshed out into believable characters who contributed plenty to their new home, only to be threatened when her father refuses to break doctor patient confidentiality.

Pharmacies at the time often stocked pulp fiction paperbacks and Lily spends her time reading through these when no one’s looking. She discovers one with two women on the cover, drawn into this illicit world. What she doesn’t know is that these books often had a moral slant, but fortunately for her, she doesn’t get a chance to finish the story in the shop. She has started to have feelings towards Kathleen and wants to know if this is possible. Then she goes to the Telegraph Club and discovers the queer scene, risking so much to sneak out and see Tommy perform and to have the chance to hold the hand of the girl she likes.

I loved reading about this slice of history that is not often talked about, both the fifties life in San Francisco’s China Town and the queer clubs that seem like they have always had a place in the city. Lily was a charming character to follow, she takes risks despite being a good, studious daughter. She does not want to hurt anyone but she follows her heart. I loved the acceptance she found at the Telegraph Club, even if the older patrons maybe seemed a bit patronising at times, they come through when it matters.

First posted at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm

An American-born Chinese teen coming to terms with her homosexuality and young love in 1950s’ San Francisco Chinatown.

This is one of the books I had pre-ordered in 2020 that inspired me to start this queer fiction trip and the setting and summary sparked intrigue the moment I heard about it. Lo has made a 15-minute introduction video to this, her 6th novel, as well as a Spotify playlist of music “in and inspired by” the book. She’s also blogging “Notes from the Telegraph Club”, a really interesting series diving into the research she put in for the novel. Also, We Need Diverse Books also has a great Q&A with Lo about the book and its origins.

It’s a lovely story — with an appendix of historical context and references for further reading, which was a really interesting thought that I don’think I’ve seen before in YA fiction. It has been nominated by American Library Association for the 2022 Best Fiction for Young Adults award.

Content notes: era-appropriate racism, homophobia and Red Scare.