Review Detail

Lily is seventeen-years-old and lives in Chinatown in the early 1950s. She's the dutiful daughter and tries hard to do the right thing. Only she feels and questions what is expected of her. When Lily finds an ad announcing a male impersonator playing at the Telegraph Club, she's intrigued. And when a fellow classmate, Kath, finds the clipping and admits she's been to the club? Lily's curious and wants to go. At the club, she sees a community of women that speaks to her.

She tries to make sense of her feelings toward Kath, which are frowned upon and told are 'wrong'. All this happens during a tumultuous time in US history and the fear of coming out might mean being arrested.

What worked: Strong coming-of-age story set in the 1950s amidst McCarthyism, the Red-scare paranoia, and deportation. Mostly though this is the story of Lily and Kath and the strong feelings they had for each other that had to be hidden due to the homophobia of that time.

Lily is the 'good' Chinese daughter. She loves science, but is discouraged from it as it's only for 'boys'. Lo does a great job showing readers the struggles Lily has in being true to herself during the 1950s where everyone had to fit a certain role or they were ridiculed or worse.

The strength of this novel is the powerful writing. Beautifully written scenes of San Francisco and Chinatown during the 1950s and the expectations required of all.

Also shown are how childhood friendships can wane in time. For example, there are scenes in which Shirley, a long-time friend, can't understand Lily's dreams which include a college education and science. Shirley follows the norms and can't understand why her friend would want to study math or other 'boy' courses.

The historical aspects of this novel are fascinating and add to the story, though it's Lily's first love that shines through. That and her courage to not back down on her truth, even when she knows it would be easy to do.

Beautifully written sweet queer love story set in a dark time of our history. But it's the protagonist's pushing against societal rigid boundaries and finding her own truth that is the strength of this engaging novel. A must-read for those who want queer love stories that tug at your heart.