It Might Never Happen

Emily Slapper

• Publisher: HQ
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9780008629182
• eBook ISBN:
  9780008629199
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

'Thought-provoking and beautifully written' Daily Mail

'Strangely compelling' The Times

'Astonishing. If you like Sally Rooney, read this book' Hattie Williams

(Look at these two. They have been sure that their fate is in their own hands – they have been desperate to believe this – and now they are learning it is not.

The ending is a pivotal moment in their story.)

Noa is desperate to be loved. More than anything else – more than her studies, more than her job, her friends, her family – she wants to belong to someone. And she knows if this can happen, if someone will just choose her, she'll finally be happy.

Elliot is terrified. Terrified about what will happen to his brother, Willy, if he isn't there to keep him safe. Terrified that his friends will find out that he doesn't have any of his own opinions. Terrified that the girl he loves will realise he isn't a real person.

When they meet, Noa and Elliot have an immediate connection. And each of them hopes their great love might be enough to quiet the voices that tell them they're not enough. But is it possible to love another person when you have no idea how to love yourself?

It Might Never Happen is a beautiful, painful, brutally relatable novel about the ways that love tears us apart, again and again. About fearing for the worst – and how we pick ourselves up when it happens. Perfect for fans of Talking at Night, Ordinary Love or Milk Teeth.

***

'Intimate and incisive' Woman

'Important and affecting' Charlotte Paradise

'Tender, raw, and painfully relatable' Woman's Own

***

Readers love IT MIGHT NEVER HAPPEN

'A moving and beautifully written book' *****

'This book cracked me open … I'll be thinking about this one for a long time' *****

'Totally absorbing … One of the best books I've read this year' *****

Table of contents

• Praise for Emily Slapper
• About the Author
• Also by Emily Slapper
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Note to Readers
• Dedication
• Contents
• 1 Twenty-five years old
• 2 Twenty-five years old
• 3
• 4 Eight years old
• 5 Eight years old
• 6 Twenty-six years old
• 7 Twenty-six years old
• 8 Fourteen years old
• 9 Fourteen years old
• 10 Twenty-six years old
• 11
• 12 Fifteen years old
• 13 Twenty-seven years old
• 14 Fifteen years old
• 15 Fifteen years old
• 16 Fifteen years old
• 17 Sixteen years old
• 18 Twenty-seven years old
• 19
• 20 Twenty-eight years old
• 21
• 22 Twenty-nine years old
• 23
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgements
• About the Publisher