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LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB

Malinda Lo

From the acclaimed author of Ash, a sweeping story of love and duty set in a lush and turbulent San Francisco.
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu is a good a Chinese girl. She may not be the type to put her name in for the Miss Chinatown Pageant, but she's still the eldest child of proud and successful parents and an ambitious student with a bright future, maybe even in job like her aunt's at the Jet Propulsion Lab. She's what a good Chinese girl looks like. But San Francisco in 1954 is a place where appearances are carefully cultivated, especially in Chinatown. White people come to Chinatown to gawk at exotic foreigners or for late-night lo mein after an evening at one of the notorious nightclubs on Broadway. Chinatown is careful to show visitors the imaginary Far East they want to see, especially if the alternative is that they start looking for communists. But even among Chinatown residents, there are truths that the residents would rather not see, masks even family pretends not to notice - at least until those masks have slipped badly. And for Lily Hu, "good Chinese girl" is beginning to feel like a mask. Or worse, like a trap - one that finally sprung the night she set foot in the Telegraph Club with Kathleen Miller. She's known Kath since they were first in math together in junior high. Now they're the last two senior girls in advanced math, and Lily can't deny that what she feels with Kath is about much more than calculus. Balancing her family's expectations with her desire for Kath would never be easy under any circumstances, but with possible deportation suddenly looming over her father, despite his hard-won citizenship, Lily's awakening to her true self seems doomed to be short-lived. In Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo conjures a vivid and moving portrait of a girl struggling to know herself in a world that only wants to see her one way or not at all. Malinda Lo is the critically acclaimed author of ASH, HUNTRESS, ADAPTATION, INHERITANCE, A LINE IN THE DARK, and LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB. ASH, a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and was a Kirkus Best Book for Children and Teens. She has been a three-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda's nonfiction has been published by The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The Huffington Post, The Toast, The Horn Book, and AfterEllen. She lives with her partner in Massachusetts.
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Published 2021-01-19 by Dutton

Comments

In this meticulously researched title, Lo skillfully layers rich details...Beautifully written historical fiction about giddy, queer, first love.

Writing beautifully with a knowing, gentle hand that balances Lily's unease and courage, Lo presents a must-read love story in an uncommon setting.

LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB is a Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2021 2021 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee 2021 BookPage Best Young Adult Books of 2021

Lo has really outdone herself here. I don't think I can overstate how refreshing it is to read queer historical fiction that is so complex, nuanced, and tender. It's my opinion that this book will quickly become a new touchstone of the genre of queer literature. What an accomplishment.

UK: Hodder ; Italy: Mondadori ; Russia: Eksmo

Malindo Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a beautifully observed story about finding love and fighting for one's identity against tremendous odds. In bringing a fascinating chapter of history to life, this novel illuminates a path to the future through a careful understanding of our past. It's vivid, emotional, and hopeful. I loved it.

Shout it from the highest hills: this is a beautiful, brave story, and Lily is a heroine that readers will love.

Exquisite and heart-shattering, Last Night at the Telegraph Club made me ache with wishing. This book is for anyone who has ever loved - in any sense of the word.

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.

Malinda Lo turns her masterful talent toward an under-covered period of San Francisco history. Last Night at the Telegraph Club is by turns gut-wrenching, utterly compelling, and deeply tender. I loved Lily fiercely, and you will too.

This standout work of historical fiction combines meticulous research with tender romance to create a riveting bildungsroman.

Malinda Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club is an instant classic, the finest LGBTQIA+ romance I've read in ages. Lo has lovingly re-created 1950s San Francisco and made me feel as though I'd lived there, and her depiction of first love felt so real that I experienced it in long-since-forgotten corners of my own heart.

A sweeping and romantic page-turner, the heart of this rich and ambitious historical novel is a love story that thrums with passion and self-discovery.

A gripping historical thriller... Alluring... LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB is proof of Lo's skill at creating darkly romantic tales of love in the face of danger.

This book is the perfect mix of historical fiction and a look back at the decades of hardships the LGBTQ community has had to endure before today.

Lo's writing, restrained yet luscious, shimmers with the thrills of youthful desire. A lovely, memorable novel about listening to the whispers of a wayward heart and claiming a place in the world.

LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB is 2021 National Book Award Winner Finalist for the NEIBA Book Award 2021 Medal Winner of the Alice B Awards

This immersive, powerful coming-of-age novel tackles perceptions, expectations, and identity while sweeping readers into smoky lesbian nightclubs and '50s culture.

Oh, what a wonderful novel this is! For all who ever dared to want more, much more, from life - a beautifully sensitive love story, with telling historic detail.

Malinda Lo has just won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for Last Night at the Telegraph Club! Read more...

Lush, ambitious and layered, Malinda Lo's sweeping historical novel is the queer romance we've been waiting for.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club--focused on unapologetically embracing one's true self--is a spectacular addition to the young adult historical fiction genre.

O, the Oprah Magazine included LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB in their list of 32 LGBTQ Books That Will Change the Literary Landscape in 2021. Buzzfeed included it on its list of 25 LGBTQ+ YA Books You'll Want to Curl Up with This Winter. Bustle included it in their 42 Books to Get Excited About This Winter. Autosraddle included it in a roundup of 69 Queer and Feminist Books Coming Your Way in Winter 2020 and 2021. Lambda Literary included it in 6 Forthcoming Queer YA Books to Add to Your TBR Pile.