A SCATTER OF LIGHT

During the summer before college, Aria discovers her sexuality.

It is 2013, and Aria West is in Woodacre, California, a small town in Marin County, staying with her widowed paternal grandmother, Joan, an artist who is White; Aria’s opera singer mom is a Chinese immigrant. This wasn’t the summer Aria had in mind: Her plans were derailed after a boy took topless photos of her at a party and posted them online. Instead of staying on Martha’s Vineyard with her best friends, she is now under the care of her grandma. On her first day in town, Aria meets Steph Nichols, her grandma’s gardener, a heavily tattooed, gender-nonconforming singer/songwriter who reads White. From the Dyke March to the Queer Music Festival in Golden Gate Park, Aria explores the Bay Area queer scene along with Steph; Steph’s girlfriend, Lisa; and their friend Mel. Over the course of the summer, Aria finds her attraction to Steph deepening, a mutual feeling complicated by Steph’s relationship with Lisa. In this stand-alone companion to Last Night at the Telegraph Club (2021), Lo updates readers on Lily and Kath’s love story through an email from Aria’s mom, who is related to Lily, and a news article on the legalization of same-sex marriage in California. The plot and setting are richly detailed, but readers will wish for deeper exploration of the characters’ emotional lives, which would have strengthened the romance and family drama.

A contemporary queer coming-of-age story steeped in pivotal events.