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Little Tiger acquires 'poignant' YA novel from Abdi Nazemian after Utah schools ban
Little Tiger has acquired "poignant" YA novel from Abdi Nazemian. The acquisition comes after the book became the 16th to be banned in schools in Utah this month alone.
Mattie Whitehead, senior commissioning editor at Little Tiger, acquired UK & Commonwealth rights to Like A Love Story from Charlotte Bodman at Rights People, on behalf of John Cusick and Chiara Panzeri at Folio Jr, for publication on 5th June 2025.
The book was originally published in the US by Harper Teen in 2019 and received a Stonewall Honor and was among TIME’s 100 Best YA Books of All Time.
The book follows three teens, Reza, Judy and Art in New York City in 1989. Reza is an Iranian boy, who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother, and is terrified that someone will guess that he is gay, as "all he knows of gay life are the media’s images of men dying of AIDS". Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance, until she falls for Reza and they start dating. Art is Judy’s best friend, their school’s only out and proud teen. "He’ll never be who his conservative parents want him to be", so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs.
The synopsis states: "As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won’t break Judy’s heart – and destroy the most meaningful friendship he’s ever known.
"A big=hearted, sprawling epic about friendship and love and the revolutionary act of living life to the fullest in the face of impossible odds."
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Whitehead said: "We can’t wait for UK readers to meet the gorgeous Reza, Judy and Art and navigate 1980s New York with them, a period of history that Abdi brings poignantly to light. Prepare to laugh, cry, reflect and enjoy the brilliance of Madonna."
Nazemian said: "Like a Love Story is a deeply personal novel grounded in my own coming-of-age experience as a queer Iranian immigrant growing up during the worst years of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York. Its reception in the world has been complicated. Many have seen themselves in this story, or have felt connected to their history through its characters. Others have banned the book from being taught in US. schools. These responses have been a reminder to me that we are never alone, and that we must keep fighting for our history to be acknowledged and for queer youth to live in a world free of shame."
Little Tiger will publish Like a Love Story in June 2025.
