The titular Telegraph Club is a 1950s San Francisco lesbian venue for "male impersonators." Protagonist Lily Hu learns about it from a newspaper advertisement, which she clips and carries around with her in a math book. One day the clipping falls out and is spotted by Kathleen Miller, the only other girl in honors math. It turns out Kath, as she prefers to be called, has been to the Telegraph before, and the girls make plans to go together.

But it's the 50s and the Red Scare and Lily is supposed to be a good Chinese girl, and her dad's passport has been confiscated, so it's a lot of pressure. I appreciate that Lily is really not about hiding who she is, even though she don't have models or support in her community. This is not a lesbian-dies-at-the-end novel.