Bookshop The year is 1954, and American-born Chinese 17-year-old Lily Hu, a rising senior at San Franciscoâs Galileo High School, discovers the existence of the Telegraph Club nightclub by chance: via an ad in the
Chronicle featuring a Male Impersonator. Lily secretly gathers photos of women with masculine qualities; sheâs drawn toward âunfeminineâ clothing and interests such as chemistry, engines, and space. Dawning recognition of her lesbianism comes alongside a budding connection with Kathleen Miller, a white classmate. But openly exploring queerness isnât an optionânot with her mother touting ârespectability,â and societyâs limited perception of Chinese-Americanness as either âChina dollâ or âreal Americanâ-adjacent, and especially not amid McCarthyismâduring which Chinese people, including those within Lilyâs close Chinatown community, are targeted as Communist sympathizers. As Lily falls deeper