This Wasn't Meant to Happen
By (Author) Ali Harris
HarperCollins Publishers
One More Chapter
30th December 2025
11th September 2025
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Narrative theme: death, grief, loss
Modern and Contemporary romance
Family life fiction / Stories about family
Narrative theme: love / relationships
Narrative theme: health and illness
823.92
Paperback
384
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 24mm
270g
'A beautiful, brave, important bookdevastatingly sad, yet still filled with light, hope and so much love' Sunday Times Bestseller Paige Toon
This wasnt meant to happen. But it did.
Sofie Jensen has always lived by logic calculating risk, staying in control, believing that if she did everything right, life would follow the rules. But nothing could prepare her for the unimaginable: the stillbirth of her baby boy.
Now, grief carves a hollow space where joy once lived, and love so fierce, so fragile teeters on the edge. Nothing adds up anymore. Not the life she had. Not the future she imagined.
Told with quiet strength and breathtaking honesty, This Wasnt Meant to Happen is a searing but beautiful portrait of love, grief and the tender, complicated path back to hope. For anyone who has ever lost, longed, or held on when letting go felt impossible.
'Oh my heart. This is a book that lands deeply' Sunday Times Bestseller Giovanna FletcherPraise for Ali Harris:
'An adorable, heartwarming tale of love and friendship which bubbles with tenderness. Love it' Marie Claire
'Not since One Day's Emma and Dexter have we fallen so hard for a literary coupleThe First Last Kiss will burrow deep inside your head and heart, and will stay there long after you finish reading. 5 stars.' Heat
'A very cleverly put-together, almost cinematic novelHugely enjoyable.' Red
'It's so refreshing to read a love story where we couldn't predict the end. Heartbreakingly brilliant.' Company
'An intoxicating cocktail of heartbreak and happiness.' Easy Living
'This nicely-written tale of first love, lost love and second chances is just the sort of thing to be made into a movie.' Star
'A real weepy, The First Last Kiss makes you laugh too.' Daily Express
Ali Harris lives in Cambridge with her husband and three children. She has a degree in Performing Arts and cites theatre as her third love after her family and books. Theres not a musical shes seen (and shes seen many!) that she hasnt loved.
Prior to having children, Ali was a journalist and wrote for a variety of womens magazines including Glamour, Cosmo, Red, Stylist and ELLE.
She is the author of three previous novels, including Sunday Times bestsellers Miracle on Regent Street and The First Last Kiss, as well as Written In The Stars. Her upcoming novel was written after a prolonged break following the loss of her baby girl, late in pregnancy.