Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo - A Fable Reading Guide
Jason Boog
Last Night at the Telegraph Club Book Club Resources
Fable's YA Book Club introduced our community to "Last Night at the Telegraph Club." That club is moderated by Selene Velez, the BookTok creator known as Moongirlreads. You can download our free book club questions for Last Night at the Telegraph Club to dive into the book!Join the free YA Book Club to discover more great books.
Selene also hosted a special online event and author Q&A with Malinda Lo. You can read the whole transcript on our blog or watch the conversation on YouTube.https://youtu.be/kIXCq8gtrb4During that virtual event, Malinda shared her research process with readers including early computers, the transitional cultural period of the 1950s, and the first female pilots. She also shared this story:"One inspiration was born from standing in San Francisco’s Chinatown" Right next to Chinatown is North Beach, a traditionally Italian neighborhood where many gay and lesbian bars are. As a Chinese American girl living in Chinatown, it’d be so easy to encounter that community: you would just have to cross the street. That idea got stuck in my head, and became a short story, and then became a novel. "
Malinda also recommended two more books that she used for research.Rise of the Rocket Girls by Nathalia Holt
"When we think of computers, we think of computers as they are today: machines. But in the 1940s and ’50s, a computer was a person who computed things — literally a “human computer.” And human computers were, primarily, women. This book tells the story of the women at Jet Propulsion Laboratories, who designed rockets using just paper, pencils, and their own mathematical know-how. I was so fascinated by these women, and their story inspired one of my characters, Lily, an aspiring rocket scientist."Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 by Nan Alamilla Boyd
"I read 'Wide-Open Town' around the same time as “The Rise of the Rocket Girls,” and though the two books have nothing to do with each other, they combined in my head to become inspiration for “Last Night at the Telegraph Club.” “Wide-Open Town” is a fascinating academic history of San Francisco’s queer community, before the mid-60s sexual revolution."The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkowski
"At the heart of “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” is the romance between Kath and Lily. I have so many favorite queer romances, but I want to share a couple I recently finished: 'The Midnight Lie' and 'The Hollow Heart' by Marie Rutkoski. These books are sapphic romantic fantasies that are sexy, adventurous, and beautifully written. They’re completely riveting. I had to wait for a year and a half for the sequel, and I could barely handle it. But they’re both out now, so you should read them!"
More Malinda Lo Books on Fable
In her Malinda Lo's Reading List Folio, Malinda noted that she's written across genres her whole career, including fantasy, science fiction, psychological thriller, and historical fiction. However, she also explained what united all these books together:Although my novels may seem different on the surface, they’re all about queer girls and women. I even joke that my brand is lesbians! In my Folio, I share a few of the books that inspired “Last Night at the Telegraph Club.”
type: embedded-entry-inline id: 6yamXqrpCt50easS6fsz1eWith just a few clicks, you can start your own book club for any of these books on Fable. Happy reading!Last Night at the Telegraph Club Quotes
When Malinda Lo won a National Book Award for her novel, the judges wrote a glowing review of what makes her work so special:"Last Night at the Telegraph Club glows with desire and hums with sensuality as sapphic romance flashes against fear and intolerance. In lustrous detail, Malinda Lo materializes Chinese American Lily and white Kath’s love story during the rise of 1950’s McCarthyism. Lo’s exquisite prose contrasts Lily’s unhurried discovery of her sexuality against Kath’s unquestioned belonging at the Telegraph Club. Lo beckons readers, sentence by restrained sentence, into this incandescent novel of queer possibility."
Here are a few great quotes from "Last Night at the Telegraph Club," illustrating the beautiful way she invites readers on a journey of discovery and possibility.“Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like to have nothing keeping you attached to the ground?”
“She’s having a hard time right now because you’re not what she expected. But we’re never what our parents expected. They have to learn that lesson.”
“Are you like the girls in the book too? Because I think I am.”
““It wasn’t like chocolate, Lily thought. It was like finding water after a drought. She couldn’t drink enough, and her thirst made her ashamed, and the shame made her angry.”
“Now she was confused, as if she’d been reading a book that had several pages removed, but hadn’t realized the pages were gone until this moment.”
You can discover more great books on Fable’s Young Adult genre page.Keep reading on Fable
Still looking for more to read? Fable has plenty of free books in every genre!You can also explore our book club directory, discovering more new friends and new books to share.
Jason Boog