Citation: Lo, M. (2021). Last night at the Telegraph Club (Zeller, E.W., Narr.) [Unabridged Audiobook]. Listening Library. https://www.audible.ca/pd/Last-Night-at-the-Telegraph-Club-Audiobook/B087KTGQWM
Content Warning: Characters face homophobia, Anti-Asian racism/hate speech, sexism.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a stunning novel, offering representation for queer women and non-binary femmes in Asian communities. It offers a look into queer history in Chinatown, an intersection of identities that is so rarely offered in fiction. Somehow, Lo has managed to eloquently explain the need for the Asian community to fly under the radar and remain palatable to the white community in the face of the racism and paranoia of the Red Scare, without excusing the homophobia and sexism that resulted.
The novel also balances the telling of a sweet teenage love story between two girls as they begin to come out to themselves, one another, and eventually their community. Her writing is evocative, and the audiobook, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller, is deeply immersive. No wonder it won the National Book Award for Young Peoples Literature!