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Published Oct 2022
384 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
For Angel Rahimi life is about one thing: The Ark - a boy band that's taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark's fandom has given her everything she loves - her friend Juliet, her dreams, her place in the world. Her Muslim family doesn't understand the band's allure - but Angel feels there are things about her they'll never understand.
Jimmy Kaga-Ricci owes everything to The Ark. He's their frontman — and playing in a band with his mates is all he ever dreamed of doing, even if it only amplifies his anxiety. The fans are very accepting that he's trans — but they also keep shipping him with his longtime friend and bandmate, Rowan. But Jimmy and Rowan are just friends — and Rowan has a secret girlfriend the fans can never know about. Dreams don't always turn out the way you think and when Jimmy and Angel are unexpectedly thrust together, they find out how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be.
A funny, wise, and heartbreakingly true coming of age novel. I Was Born for This is a stunning reflection of modern teenage life, and the power of believing in something — especially yourself.
"The characters are multidimensional with flaws and goals that direct their growth. A magnetic, emotional journey with nuanced internal conflict and dynamic characters." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[An] immersive, character-driven drama...Employing even pacing, enticing alternating perspectives, and a cinematic writing style that continually builds tension, Oseman capably explores myriad facets of experience, spanning gender and sexual identity, ethnicity, and religion." - Publishers Weekly
This information about I Was Born for This was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Alice Oseman was born in 1994 in Kent, England. She completed a degree in English at Durham University in 2016 and is currently a full-time writer and illustrator. Alice can usually be found staring aimlessly at computer screens, questioning the meaninglessness of existence, or doing anything and everything to avoid getting an office job.
Alice's first book, Solitaire, was published when she was nineteen. Her second, Radio Silence, was released in early 2016, and her third, I Was Born for This, in 2018. She is also the creator of the online webcomic Heartstopper.
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