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Last Night at the Telegraph Club

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Last Night at the Telegraph Club

By: Malinda Lo
Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
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About this listen

From the award winning author of Ash comes a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1950s. 

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. 

©2021 Malinda Lo (P)2021 Listening Library 20th Century Historical Historical Fiction LGBTQ+ Literature & Fiction Romance China

Critic reviews

"Lo's writing [...] shimmers with the thrills of youthful desire. A lovely, memorable novel." (Sarah Waters, author of Tipping the Velvet and The Night Watch)

"An instant classic, the finest LGBTQIA+ romance I've read in ages." (Bill Konigsberg, award-winning author of The Music of What Happens and The Bridge)
All stars
Most relevant
Couldn’t stop listening, loved the rich backstories of all the characters. Beautiful depiction of 1950’s San Francisco, lesbian scene, and Chinese American society.

Brilliant

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Captivating writing and endearing characters 🧡 Great care was taken to provide a realistic and nuanced portrayal of the Chinese lesbian experience in 1950s San Francisco, as highlighted by the author's note. The narration is top tier. I finished this book feeling enriched and inspired to learn more!

Enriching and captivating

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great overall, loved the history scattered throughout to remind you when this book takes place.
beautiful!

love it

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I’ve loved Malinda Lo’s stories for some years but boy oh boy is it exciting to see how this book differs from her others. This is the first book I’m aware of where she’s left the fantasy sci-fi genres behind and written purely from historical research to build a narrative. The book shines a light on lesbian and Chinese communities in a time of American history that is commonly whitewashed. Lo really achieved what she set out to do in making it feel like a more multidimensional experience than the history books show. There’s also a temptations these days for historical writers to be gritty in order to show the “harsh reality” of how life once was, which is often an overly pessimistic viewpoint. Lo doesn’t fall into that trap and instead shows the right amount of real drama and pain but with a healthy portion of genuine comfort and warmth. The reading was also very well paced, with each character being voiced distinctly without leaning towards caricature, and I’m really glad I listened to the audiobook so I got to hear the Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciations.

Wonderful, historical and hopeful

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It took me a while to get into this book personally but once I did I was hooked. Definitely picked up in the second half and had a great ending. Very accurate and incredibly well researched too, very thoughtfully written.

slow burner but brilliant in the end

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