Last Night at the Telegraph Club

by Malinda Lo

Hardcover, 2021

Status

Available

Publication

Dutton Books for Young Readers (2021), 416 pages

Library's review

Finally, the intersectional, lesbian, historical teen novel so many readers have been waiting for.

Lily Hu has spent all her life in San Francisco’s Chinatown, keeping mostly to her Chinese American community both in and out of school. As she makes her way through her teen years in the 1950s, she
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starts growing apart from her childhood friends as her passion for rockets and space exploration grows—along with her curiosity about a few blocks in the city that her parents have warned her to avoid. A budding relationship develops with her first White friend, Kathleen, and together they sneak out to the Telegraph Club lesbian bar, where they begin to explore their sexuality as well as their relationship to each other. Lo’s lovely, realistic, and queer-positive tale is a slow burn, following Lily’s own gradual realization of her sexuality while she learns how to code-switch between being ostensibly heterosexual Chinatown Lily and lesbian Telegraph Bar Lily. In this meticulously researched title, Lo skillfully layers rich details, such as how Lily has to deal with microaggressions from gay and straight women alike and how all of Chinatown has to be careful of the insidious threat of McCarthyism. Actual events, such as Madame Chiang Kai-shek’s 1943 visit to San Francisco, form a backdrop to this story of a journey toward finding one’s authentic self.

Beautifully written historical fiction about giddy, queer first love. (author’s note) (Historical romance. 14-18)

-Kirkus Review
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Awards

National Book Award (Finalist — Young People's Literature — 2021)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Young Adult Literature — 2021)
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book (Fiction — 2021)
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 2023)
Stonewall Book Award (Winner — 2022)
Green Mountain Book Award (Nominee — 2023)
Nevada Young Readers' Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 2024)
Thumbs Up! Award (Top Ten — 2022)
Oregon Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — 2024)
Grand Canyon Reader Award (Recommended — 2023)
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (Winner — Young Adult — 2022)
NCSLMA Battle of the Books (High School — 2023)
Kids' Book Choice Awards (Finalist — 2022)
Printz Award (Honor — 2022)
Flicker Tale Award (Nominee — Older Readers — 2023)
Massachusetts Book Award (Honor Book — 2022)
John and Patricia Beatty Award (Young Adult — 2022)
ALA Rainbow Book List (Selection — 2022)
North Star YA Award (Nominee — 2023)
New England Book Award (Finalist — Young Adult — 2021)
Nerdy Book Award (Young Adult Literature — 2021)
Penn GSE's Best Books for Young Readers (Selection — Young Adult — 2021)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Teens (Top Ten — Fiction — 2021)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2021-01-19

ISBN

0525555250 / 9780525555254

Barcode

1729

Other editions

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