The Authenticity Project: The feel-good novel you need right now

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I let the paint dry solid on the palette and, one unbearably long night, destroyed all my unfinished canvases; ripped them into multicolored streamers, then diced them into confetti with Mary's dressmaking scissors. The Authenticity Project, Clare's debut novel, was a BBC Radio 2 bookclub pick, a New York Times bestseller, the winner of the RNA debut novel award and a Babelio award.

Clare's dark but hilarious memoir, The Sober Diaries, has helped thousands of people around the world to quit drinking. Good things about the book were that it was easy, quick to read, the author showed us well how what we see is often different from the true, and how we define ourselves with one or two things we put most focus on, when in reality we are more then that.

Julian, a lonely 79-year old man started the project by writing his truths in the notebook and passing it on by leaving it a cafe. Slowly, all these strangers become connected, and the reader realizes that authenticity is more complicated than it seems. I liked the first 4 core characters but the other characters introduced afterwards didn't do much for me.

Though the story starts slowly, it definitely picks up, even offering an unexpected and solid twist ending. Mary worked long hours as a midwife, and I crossed the country, painting the portraits of people who thought themselves worth recording for posterity. I defy anyone not to pick it up and be both transported and delighted' ***** 'An absolute gem of a book . He got his comeuppance for his philandering and selfish ways, but also a second chance at life - redemption is probably a better word for this part of the story line.Monica, the cafe’s owner, is a little dubious about unburdening herself in a notebook that will be read by strangers, but she has feelings she can’t express to anyone else. Monica was a control freak who has trouble letting go, the Australian Riley was meant to be cool, laid back and likeable and yet came across as clueless and stupid.

The notebook contains a story – an authentic story – of one person who admits he’s very lonely – Julian, an artist who used to be quite famous. Through their actions and encounters, we see the effect facing their truths has on their own lives as well as others'. When I did finally emerge from my cocoon, about five years later, neighbors had moved, friends had given up, my agent had written me off, and that's when I realized I had become unnoticeable.

Through these very different characters we get to know them all better as well as this group of people all starting to become friends.

I would definitely recommend this if you love Nick Spalding or Andi Osho, but if you thought this was going to be a heart wrenching, dark look into the inner workings of a human mind and life, you might want to give it a swerve. brings both honesty and the perfect level of escapism to give you a warm fuzzy glow inside''Feel-good. In the end everyone has some sort of a conclusion to their story and it is for the most part positive and happy, but also bittersweet. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.The second person to share their inner selves in the notebook’s pages is Monica, 37, owner of a failing cafe and a former corporate lawyer who desperately wants to have a baby. Imagine you are walking down a deserted path and you come upon a bench and there is a journal left behind. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.