There Is No Meant to Be

Jarred McGinnis has a unique storytelling style, caustic, hilarious, unflinchingly honest and so captivatingly humane, I couldn’t put this book down. Jarred’s life is populated with the most intriguing characters and I loved spending time with them all. Part memoir, part story collection, part raucous celebration of what it means to be alive, there’s something to enthral every reader in this book – Jan CarsonThere Is No Meant to Be beautifully accesses the space(s) between novel and memoir, between masculinity and humanhood, and between physical matter and the imagination. Not only does the narrative rearrange literary boundaries, it dismantles stereotypes, rules, truths, histories and impossibilities, even the idea of the self. It’s a long time since I’ve read anything so raw and intimate, so daring and disobedient. I was left feeling certain that if anyone is capable of playing the ace in a hand of cards against The Fates, it’s Jarred McGinnis – Sarah HallAstonishing, so funny and clever - the most beautiful and truthful song to the pain present in a good life – Evie Wyld

Jarred McGinnis is the co-founder of The Special Relationship, which was chosen for the British Council’s International Literature Showcase. His short fiction has been commissioned for BBC Radio 4 and appeared in literary journals in the UK, Ireland, Canada and US. He is an associate writer for Spread the Word, a fellow of the London Library Emerging Writers Programme and a writer-in-residence for First Story. He also has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, but mostly he inspires the able-bodied by using public transport and taking his daughters to the playground. His debut novel, The Coward, was a BBC Two Between the Covers book club pick and won the Prix du premier roman etranger in France.