Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Penguin Teen Canada, January 19th

Format: ebook

Pages: 416

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Acclaimed author of Ash Malinda Lo returns with her most personal and ambitious novel yet, a gripping story of love and duty set in San Francisco’s Chinatown during the Red Scare.

“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

My Review:

Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for the copy of this book.
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There is a lot more happening in this book than I initially expected, and I really enjoyed it. Lily is a young teenage girl growing up in San Francisco after the Second World War. She is very smart, and she has to navigate being one of the only women in the math and science classes. She is not respected for her knowledge and laughed at for wanting to go to space.
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Lily is also trying to figure out her sexual identity. When she makes friends with Kath, another woman in her math and science classes, Lily is exposed to a whole new world by entering the Telegraph Club, where women go to feel a sense of belonging.
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On top of all this, Lily is Chinese American, so she also experiences racism during a time when people in the USA were afraid of Communism, and therefore targeted Chinese people because of what was going on in China.
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One thing I would have liked a bit more of is the flashbacks with her mom and dad. I wanted more of their story and found them very interesting!
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CW: sexism, racism, violence, homophobia