Like that? Read this! | Last Night at the Telegraph club

“Like That? Read This!” is a feature where I provide librarian-curated book recommendations. I’ll be picking a recent release and sharing a list of similar books to pick up if you liked it! “Like That? Read This!” is also perfect when you’re waiting for a library copy of a hot new release and need something to read in the meantime.

Librarians and educators are welcome to use “Like That? Read This!” to create readalike lists, displays, or other readers advisory tools for their students/readers!

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Title: Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Author: Malinda Lo

Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers

Release date: January 19, 2021

Synopsis: “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 Red Scare.

‘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.”