Last Night at the Telegraph Club

By: Malinda Lo

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

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.

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.

*This audiobook includes a PDF of the bibliography and acknowledgments from the book.

Very sweet and pure love story

I loved this story and the characters. Thought it was a very sweet and honest discovery of love for another person. Love is love. I found myself becoming very emotional at the end of the story and so glad that there was hope for the ability of these characters to continue to explore their relationship.

could not stop listening

I have attention issues that make reading and listening to fiction difficult but the story and the narrator were both so good that I couldn't stop listening and was eager to get back to it whenever I had to stop. This is a great queer coming of age story and queer bipoc and bipoc story. Could really help queer youth know they're normal and help non-queer youth know that lgbtq people are just like them.

Simply excellent…

I am so glad I stumbled across this book…it is an amazing story…personally I knew of some of the struggles that the gay and lesbian community had to endure…but this book has given me a whole new appreciation of them… my hat is off to the author for this excellent book…

Excellent historical perspective

I loved reading about a queer Asian American in 1950s San Francisco. I did find the protagonist a little flat in that she didn’t speak much and was very closed off. I also would have liked to see more development between her and the other teenage girl she fell in love with. It was hard to understand how their connection was so deep based on the author’s portrayal of their interactions. Overall, however, I thought it was an excellent story and had a realistic-feeling portrayal of that time period and the struggles that Asian Americans and queer folk, especially lesbians, had to maneuver through. I just wanted a bit deeper character and relationship development.

Well worth the listen

This was really well written and really allowed the reader to gain more insight about the protagonist and her experience living in San Francisco in the 50’s. The invitation into her family, the historical context of her experience as a first generation Chinese American woman and the loving touches about the city made the book feel important and intimate. The character development was also great. I definitely recommend this, particularly if you enjoy historical fiction.