What is Only This Beautiful Moment about?
Stonewall Book Award Winner * A Best Book of the Year from the Guardian, ALA Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and BookPage
From the award–winning author of Like a Love Story comes a sweeping story of three generations of boys in the same Iranian family. Perfect for fans of Last Night at the Telegraph Club and Darius the Great Is Not Okay.
2019. Moud is an out gay teen living in Los Angeles with his distant father, Saeed. When Moud gets the news that his grandfather in Iran is dying, he accompanies his dad to Tehran, where the revelation of family secrets will force Moud into a new understanding of his history, his culture, and himself.
1978. Saeed is an engineering student with a promising future ahead of him in Tehran. But when his parents discover his involvement in the country’s burgeoning revolution, they send him to safety in America, a country Saeed despises. And even worse—he’s forced to live with the American grandmother he never knew existed.
1939. Bobby, the son of a calculating Hollywood stage mother, lands a coveted MGM studio contract. But the fairy-tale world of glamour he’s thrust into has a dark side.
Set against the backdrop of Tehran and Los Angeles, this tale of intergenerational trauma and love is an ode to the fragile bonds of family, the hidden secrets of history, and all the beautiful moments that make us who we are today.
A CCBC 2024 Choices for the Fiction for Young Adult category!
One family. Three generations. A lifetime of secrets waiting to be discovered.
- Triple Timeline: Unfold a story that moves between a gay teen’s life in modern Los Angeles, his father’s youth during the 1978 Iranian Revolution, and his grandfather’s hidden past in glamorous 1930s Old Hollywood.
- A Life-Changing Journey to Tehran: When Moud accompanies his father to Iran, a trip to see his dying grandfather becomes a journey of discovery, unearthing secrets that will redefine his understanding of his family and himself.
- LGBTQ History Across Generations: Discover the powerful, hidden story of three generations of gay men in one Iranian family, each navigating their identity, culture, and the times they lived in.
- Iranian-American Identity: A deeply moving exploration of culture, immigration, and what it means to be caught between two worlds, perfect for fans of Darius the Great Is Not Okay.