Last Night at the Telegraph Club

By: Malinda Lo

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Acclaimed author of Ash Malinda Lo returns with her most personal and ambitious novel yet, a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1950s.

"That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other." And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: "Have you ever heard of such a thing?"

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.

This audiobook includes a PDF of the bibliography and acknowledgments from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Malinda Lo (P)2021 Listening Library

Critic reviews

Winner of the National Book Award

Winner of the Stonewall Book Award

Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature

A Michael L. Printz Honor Book

A We Need Diverse Books

Walter Dean Myers Honor Book

A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist

"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."—Sarah Waters, international bestselling and award winning author of Tipping the Velvet and The Night Watch

"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."—Emily X.R. Pan, New York Times bestselling author of The Astonishing Color of After

"Lo beckons readers, sentence by restrained sentence, into this incandescent novel of queer possibility."—National Book Award Winner Citation

Very sweet and pure love story

I loved this story and the characters. Thought it was a very sweet and honest discovery of love for another person. Love is love. I found myself becoming very emotional at the end of the story and so glad that there was hope for the ability of these characters to continue to explore their relationship.

could not stop listening

I have attention issues that make reading and listening to fiction difficult but the story and the narrator were both so good that I couldn't stop listening and was eager to get back to it whenever I had to stop. This is a great queer coming of age story and queer bipoc and bipoc story. Could really help queer youth know they're normal and help non-queer youth know that lgbtq people are just like them.

Well worth the listen

This was really well written and really allowed the reader to gain more insight about the protagonist and her experience living in San Francisco in the 50’s. The invitation into her family, the historical context of her experience as a first generation Chinese American woman and the loving touches about the city made the book feel important and intimate. The character development was also great. I definitely recommend this, particularly if you enjoy historical fiction.

Excellent story

Well written lesbian coming out story from an teen Asian American perspective set in San Francisco in the 1950’s.

AMAZING

This book has been recommended to me multiple times, and I finally got around to reading it. Let me just say, this was the best decision of my life! Malinda Lo did a great job describing Lily’s (MC) world. I didn’t know much about 1950’s Chinatown, but Lo’s language was so vivid, I felt like I was transported to San Fransisco and sipping a martini at the Telegraph club with Tommy serenading me! Of course, I was drawn to this book because of the queer representation, but I stayed for the history! My favorite part was the timelines between chapters that gave the historical background. LGBTQIA+ history, especially the stories of queer POC is usually censored at school or completely ignored, so this book was really refreshing. I had a rollercoaster of emotions as Lily discovered her identity and developed her relationship with Cath. I had a indescribable connection to Lily because I’ve felt many of the feelings she had. The fear of coming out and the realization that your relationship with your family may never be the same. Lo did an amazing job developing Lily and Cath’s characters that I felt they were real. In addition, the narrator did a great job distinguishing the different characters voices so I knew who was talking. Each voice was unique and suited the characters personality. Overall, I would give this audiobook at 10/10! I will definitely be reading Lo’s other work.

One of my new favorites

I really enjoyed this book. It pulled me back to the first time I fell for a girl. Please read!

Get lost in Chinatown

I loved this book from start to finish. Yes it’s a coming of age story but the historical niche in the book made it such a cool get away. The narration was incredible one of the best I’ve hear so far. The narrator able to distinguish different people in the book was awesome. I just wish there was more of the MCs. Great book.

Amazing!

This book was amazing! I haven’t read many historical fiction but I’m so glad I picked up this. Once I realized it was Emily Woo Zeller I was immediately excited, I love her audiobooks. I also knew I wanted to read Malinda Lo’s books, as whenever I google things like “sapphic young adult fantasies” her books come up. But anyway, this book was really special. Mostly it was joyous, but then it hurt, yes it hurt, but I loved it. If you like ya queer contemporary books you’ll probably like this as it felt similar, but in the 1950s. I really liked the protagonist. I also liked the historical tidbits, but I mean I was a history major, specifically one that took many Chinese history classes, so that makes sense. Anyway read this book!

Slow but pretty good

I had really high hopes, and while it was good, it didn’t live up to the expectations.

Should be considered a great American novel

I’ve been recommending this book to EVERYONE. I cried I laughed and these characters have stuck with me. Their lives are so actualized I felt all their pain and love. Will be listening again