It’s 1954. Lily Hu is a seventeen year old high school senior – living in Chinatown in San Francisco. On the surface, she has always been the quintessential “perfect Chinese daughter”. But underneath, feelings begin to bubble up Lily soon can’t ignore.
These feelings come to a head when Lily befriends a classmate named Cath. Cath offers to take Lily to a show at the Telegraph Club – a lesbian bar where Tommy Andrews, the “Male Impersonator” whom Lily has been admiring from afar, performs. The Telegraph Club soon becomes a safe space for Lily and Cath. Every visit to the club, however, not only puts Lily’s own safety as risk – but her entire family’s as the threat of deportation looms over her father.
A lot of times, historical queer fiction can come off a bit like…I guess the word is Tragedy porn? I don’t know how else to explain it other than Telegraph Club does not read that way. The challenges faced by the characters come naturally from the environment they are living in. The plot unfolds naturally and is paced extremely well.
I also really appreciated that the book (not sure if every edition has this, but mine did) came with a 13 page section of historical context, analysis and references written by the author. This shows the care and research that went into this novel.
have you read Last Night at the Telegraph Club? Please tell me your thoughts in the comments below!
