While Last Night at the Telegraph Club has been touted across the Internet, what made me pick it up was our fridge magnet. Our favorite book delivery service, Rainbow Crate, made a (v adorable) fridge magnet of Lily and Kath. I needed to understand the adorableness. Also, yanno, I’ve been meaning to read Malinda Lo, the lesbian YA icon herself.

In 1954 San Francisco, life isn’t easy. Less easy if you’re a Chinese American high schooler on the cusp of the adult world, with its Red and Lavender Scares, xenophobia, white supremacy, and patriarchy. Even-less-easy-than-that if you’re a lesbian. In other words, Lily’s really going through it. She burns to know, to understand; to grow up. And it seems like her classmate Kath is asking the same questions.

I love this book. On a craft level, the sentences flowed like clear water, word after word after word. The characters were vibrant and nuanced. I literally wiggled with excitement about the historical details, because they were such a perfect cross-section of my historical studies and my family stories of growing up in the ‘50s. The plot engaged me, and the character and thematic work brought disparate elements together like they were meant to be. While Lo meant Last Night at the Telegraph Club to be a standalone, I would 100% read a sequel about Lily and Kath as adults.

Do I recommend Last Night at the Telegraph Club? HELL YEAH I DO. Lo is lauded as an award-winning wordsmith for good reason. Treat yourself to Lily’s journey.