Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Malinda Lo
Dutton, 2021
409 pages
Grades 10-Up

Lily is a dutiful Chinese girl living in mid-1950's San Francisco, only she has a secret side to her personality. Unlike her best friend, who is only concerned with boys and getting married, Lily wants to be involved with the space program as a "computer" and isn't attracted to the young men in her circle. In fact, she starts to develop feelings for the only other girl in her advanced math classes, Kath. The two form a tentative friendship, gradually confessing growing romantic feeling for each other and for women in general. Eventually, Kath takes Lily to The Telegraph Club, a nightclub with a lesbian cliental featuring male impersonators. It is here that Lily sees another way of life, one that she never knew existed. The problem is: her family and community will never except this lifestyle. Meanwhile, McCarthyism is rearing its ugly head and both the Gay and Chinese communities are being targeted as communists. Is Lily willing to sacrifice all that she loves, including her family's American citizenship, to be true to who she really is?

Winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Young People's Literature this timely novel speaks to young Americans on many levels. Discrimination against Asian Americans, as well as homosexual and transsexual people, is currently a hot topic, yet is not new as it was in full-force in the 1950's, when the straight, white lifestyle, was king. Feminism is also featured, as Lily longs for a career that is not an excepted path for women and even studying math in not encouraged. Moreover, the "Red Scare" and accusing minorities and immigrants of being anti-American in order to deport them is also back on our radar. Yes, the dark side of the glorious 1950's are explored in this novel and the reader discovers that we are still battling some of these issues. At it's heart, the book is a very sweet queer romance. The setting is not one that I can recall in historical fiction for young people, making this title fresh and new, while also reflecting current culture. For many reasons I understand why this book won the National Book Award. I am not sure that it will appeal to a wide range of teen readers, but it is very well written and of historical and cultural importance, making it worthy of notice.