# The Authenticity Project

By Clare Pooley

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/the-authenticity-project-ef7cc04d/

Lonely artist Julian Jessop writes an honest account of his life in a green notebook and leaves it at a cafe run by Monica. Other people add their confessions. As the notebook passes between six strangers, they begin finding places in one another's lives that their public appearances never suggested they needed.

## What makes it funny?

Monica reads cemetery monuments as evidence of social competition. An admiral gets an elaborate tribute, while his wife receives little more than her name and dates. Even a respectable memorial gives Monica something to be precise and indignant about.

### The comedy at work

Pooley finds vanity in Julian's sense of his importance as a portrait artist and fussiness in Monica's exact habits. Their private needs complicate the versions of themselves they present to the world, giving the notebook's invitations to honesty a comic edge.

### Try this if…

The pleasure here lies in isolated people building a community, with romantic hopes and dry observations along the way. Readers drawn to friendships that make room for personal difficulties have more than a chain of amusing confessions to follow.

### Good to know

Loneliness and bereavement matter to the story. Addiction and recovery also feature: Hazard is trying to get sober.

## What to expect

- Genre: Contemporary & literary
- Kind of humor: Dry wit
- The atmosphere: Warmhearted
- Story ingredients: Found family
- Format: Novel
- Length: 400 pages
- Audiobook: 10 hr 25 min
- Published: 2020

## A few distinguishing details

- A green notebook carrying confessions between six strangers
- A cafe becoming a meeting point for people behind their public faces

## Sources & further reading

- Author commentary: [Author](https://clarepooley.com/new-page-the-authenticity-project3)
- Book information: [Apple Books](https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/the-authenticity-project-a-novel-unabridged/id1496988772)
- Review: [Publishers Weekly review](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781984878618)
- Publisher: [Publisher and opening excerpt](https://www.penguinrandomhouseretail.com/book?isbn=9781984878632)