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Radio 2 Book Club - The Authenticity Project

The next book to be featured on the Jo Whiley Radio 2 Book Club will be The Authenticity Project, the uplifting debut novel by Clare Pooley. The book was released on 2 April and Clare will be on the show on Monday 4 May.

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We have an exclusive extract available for you to read.

The Authenticity Project

Six strangers with one universal thing in common: their lives aren’t always what they make them out to be.

But what would happen if they told the truth instead?

Desperate to confess the deep loneliness he feels, Julian begins The Authenticity Project – a small green notebook containing the truth about his life – to pass on and encourage others to share their own.

Leaving it on a table in Monica’s café, a warm, friendly place where Julian escapes at his most lonely moments, he never expects Monica to find it and track him down. Or that his small act of honesty will impact all those who come into contact with the book, and lead to a life-changing world of friendship and forgiveness…

About the author

Clare Pooley graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge and spent twenty years in the heady world of advertising, where the line between authenticity and fiction is constantly blurred, before becoming a full-time mum. She is the author of the hugely popular blog, Mummy was a Secret Drinker, under the pseudonym Sober Mummy and her memoir, The Sober Diaries was published in 2017 to critical acclaim. Her blog had over two million hits and her TEDx talk, Making Sober Less Shameful, has had over 110,000 views.

Clare’s debut novel The Authenticity Project is inspired by her decision to expose the rather grubby truth about her seemingly perfect life in her memoir.

Clare writes from her kitchen table in Fulham, London where she lives with her long-suffering husband, three children, dog and an African pygmy hedgehog.

A word from Clare

“I am so thrilled that The Authenticity Project has been picked for the Radio 2 Book Club. I wish I could tell my 11-year-old self about it, as she scribbled into her diary her dreams of one day being an author. I have always used writing as a form of therapy, and reading as an escape, and at a time like this, so many of us are finding that fiction is a real tonic. That’s why bookclubs, librarians, and the ambassadors of The Reading Agency, are more valued and needed than ever. I love the thought that my story can give someone a warm hug at a time when hugs are so scarce and so needed.”

Get involved

Tune in to Jo Whiley’s show on Monday 4 May to hear a live interview with Clare.

Have you read The Authenticity Project? You can share your thoughts with us on Twitter using #R2BookClub and tagging #TheAuthenticityProject, and you can also follow Clare.

Leave reviews for the book on our review page.

Planning to buy The Authenticity Project for your group? Buy books from Hive and support The Reading Agency and local bookshops at no extra cost to you.

Want to make sure you get the latest news? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

You can join the Radio 2 Book Club Facebook group, and also follow Jo Whiley on Twitter.

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