It Might Never Happen

Hardback Published on: 11/09/2025
Price: £16.99
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Synopsis

'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 are giving FIVE stars to 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'

Publisher information

  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • ISBN: 9780008629175
  • Number of pages: 352
  • Dimensions: 240 x 159 x 32 mm
  • Weight: 560g
  • Languages: English

Customer Reviews

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It Might Never Happen
A slow burn romance
Noa and Elliot first meet as children. Elliot is his brother’s carer. Noa doesn’t have much self-confidence. We hear their story with sympathy, perhaps emp... READ MORE
Jenny Hill
It Might Never Happen
The alchemy of real life
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC of this title. Emily Slapper's Everyone I Know Is Dying was one of my top reads of 2024 which mad... READ MORE
Karis Is Reading
It Might Never Happen
Totally Relatable
Emily Slapper really knows how to write characters that are struggling to ‘do’ life they way we’re incessantly told it should be done, and that makes me lo... READ MORE
Kerry Young
It Might Never Happen
Emotional and introspective
An emotional journey of two school sweethearts, Elliot and Noa, as they navigate the uncertainty of adolescence, continuing into the uncertainty of adultho... READ MORE
Laura
It Might Never Happen
It Might Never Happen was a rollercoaster ride of emotions
I felt empathy, frustration, rage, sadness, despair.. From the moment of Elliot and Noa's "meetcute" reunion the story really had me gripped. The teenage ... READ MORE
recycledwords
This reviewer received a free of charge product for review.
It Might Never Happen
Two lives colliding and reverberating
Perfect for New Adult readers, this was not for this reader. I can see what the author was trying to do, narrating from the shoulders of two hopeless chara... READ MORE
Huttson Lo
This reviewer received a free of charge product for review.