Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Growing up isn’t easy. Neither is finding yourself.
Sometimes it feels nearly impossible just to be yourself. Lily Hu certainly feels that. In 1950s San Francisco it’s tough to just be a woman, but she also likes math and science and is beginning to realize that she also likes girls. She’s safe in her Chinatown neighborhood with her parents and brothers and luckier than most, her father is a doctor and her mother a nurse. There are bumps in the road. This is also the era of McCarthyism and her father’s citizenship is under scrutiny by the FBI. Her childhood friends don’t understand when she starts spending time with Kathy, who is the only other girl in her math class. Lily sees an ad for a male impersonator who performs at the Telegraph Club and she knows she wants to go. While she is finding out more about herself, she is also finding out who she can trust and what her future might look like.
If you enjoy historical fiction that brings another time and place vividly to life, you might also like Demon Copperhead. While the settings couldn’t be more different, both novels explore what it means to grow into yourself while the world seems determined to shape your future for you. Continue reading → [link]
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