When Lily walks home that night, she finds a novel at the drugstore that depicts two women in love. They’re also in an advanced math class together. In her Senior Goals class, Lily notices Kathleen (“Kath”) Miller when she compliments Lily’s desire to go to space Lily is likewise fascinated with Kath’s dream to be a pilot, especially since neither of their dream professions have many women in them. Unsure what draws her to his picture, she rips it out and stores it at home. In the newspaper one day, she finds an ad for a performance by Tommy Andrews, a “male impersonator,” at the Telegraph Club.
Part 1 jumps to September 1954, as Lily prepares to start her senior year of high school. At the end of the competition, she and her friend Shirley go onstage, and Shirley appears to be exactly “what a Chinese girl should look like” (8-9). In the Prologue, the novel opens with Lily at the 1950 Miss Chinatown Pageant, where she remarks that she has never seen so many Chinese girls look “so American” (4). This study guide replicates these terms only in direct quotations. Lo writes in her Author’s Note that her decision to use such terms was driven by an effort to stay true to historical accuracy, given that she tells the story from the perspective of a 1950s teenager. This study guide refers to the 2022 edition published by Dutton Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.Ĭontent Warning: The source material contains terms now considered offensive in referring to Chinese immigrants, Chinese Americans, and African Americans. Last Night at the Telegraph Club won not only the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature but also the Stonewall Book Award for Young Adult Literature and the Asian/Pacific Award for Young Adult Literature. Malinda Lo is also the author of several other novels, including A Line in the Dark, Ash, Huntress, Adaptation, and Inheritance.
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