The Authenticity Project

Monica recognizes Hazard from their run-in on the street. She feels something is wrong; when she had shown Riley Hazard’s postcard, he hadn’t mentioned knowing him. Hazard explains how he came to find the notebook and Riley.

Monica “[turns] the new reality over in her head” and asks herself if Riley and Hazard had “been laughing about her behind her back” or if “Hazard had deliberately targeted her after colliding with her” (159). She kicks everyone out of her café.

Riley tries to explain himself to Monica, but she refuses to listen. He goes with Hazard to a bar to discuss their predicament. Riley stops Hazard from drinking. Hazard comforts Riley with the thought that Monica will calm down and they can all revisit the conversation later.

Alice’s mother-in-law passive-aggressively takes digs at her throughout their Christmas celebration while Alice accidentally gets drunk. When she tries to take a picture of their décor, Max grabs her phone and yells at her about her obsession with posting. Max and Alice have an argument about how much they’ve both changed. Alice takes a walk by herself to cool down. She left her phone at home but finds the green notebook in her bag. She reads Julian’s entries, then Monica’s.

She realizes that Monica is the same woman dancing in the café. Hazard’s entries make Alice question her own relationship with alcohol. Alice goes to Monica’s Café and finds Monica crying. Alice tells Monica about finding “The Authenticity Project,” but when Monica tells her she wishes she had never seen the notebook, Alice leaves her alone. 

Monica feels stupid and deceived. Monica cries for the woman she thought she was turning into: confident, happy, strong. She mourns the loss of the woman she wanted to be.

Late at night, Alice feeds Bunty and tries to distract herself from family conflict by continuing her reading of the notebook. Riley’s entries detail his loneliness, how his “life has become less authentic, not more” (178) since finding the notebook. Because his relationship with Monica is built on a lie, Riley feels out of touch with himself.

Riley also writes about the way the other writers of the notebook truly are. Though Julian writes that he is sad, Julian is the life of the party. Monica writes about being unlovable, but she is the glue that brings and holds them all together. Hazard writes about being a bad person, but he has the capacity for calm kindness. Riley writes that he misses gardening, which gives Alice an idea.

Julian receives a text that the art class is canceled. He returns to his bed and his memories of Mary.

Hazard waits until New Year’s Day to try to find the others. He goes to the Admiral’s grave, hoping to run into someone. Riley meets him there. Riley is worried about Julian, who is not answering his door. They find Monica to help figure out what to do about Julian. Baz and Betty join the search party. They break into Julian’s house through the window. Julian is alive but cold, hungry, and confused.

They call a doctor to check in on Julian. Monica tries to be friendly to Riley for Julian’s sake, but she can’t stand Hazard, who she sees as a jerk. Monica yells at Hazard when he makes a joke about her cleaning his home like she cleans Julian’s. Monica decides to restart the art classes.

Riley adopts a stray dog for Julian. At the Admiral’s grave, a posh-looking woman pushing a stroller joins them. She introduces herself as Alice and tells them about finding “The Authenticity Project” in the playground. She gives Riley and Julian an address to meet her at the next day.

Alice meets with Julian and Riley at the appointed place and time. She takes pictures of Julian in his impeccable and eclectic outfit and tells them that she’s an Instagram influencer. Alice brings them to a garden for a charity she helps market on her Instagram account. Julian volunteers to donate money.

Alice, Hazard, and Betty join the art class trip to Paris. Monica arranges it all and impresses Julian with her efficiency and organization.

Hazard is happy to be part of the trip but notices that Monica is still cold to him. He’s accustomed to women paying attention to him, and he feels that Monica should be thankful that he spent so much time thinking about how to find her a love match. Since getting sober, Hazard wishes “someone would tell him he was doing a really good job, and that he wasn’t a terrible person” (212). Alice sets up an Instagram account for Julian, whose pictures have been popular on her page.

As they tour museums, Monica notices that Julian obfuscates from questions by spinning tall tales. Monica feels small around Hazard and Alice, who “reminded her of the cool kids at school, the ones who seemed to fit in effortlessly” (216). Monica feels vulnerable because both Hazard and Alice have read her journal entries, so they know how she feels about herself. She judges Alice for constantly using social media. Their pleasant day is disrupted when Betty gets mugged. Benji runs after the thief and pins him down.

Betty, who had previously had a difficult time accepting Benji as her son’s boyfriend, strikes up a friendship with him after he rescues her belongings. Alice shows everyone the Instagram message Vivienne Westwood sent to Julian. Julian celebrates by buying everyone champagne, and Riley realizes that only he and Alice read Hazard’s journal entries about his struggle with addiction. Riley walks in on Alice as she struggles to clean Bunty during a diaper change, and he goes to find Monica to help Alice.

Monica helps Alice with the baby. Alice tells Monica that “’sometimes a marriage can be the loneliest place in the world’” (225). Alice notes that “mother” can be a verb as well as a noun. Monica mothers because she builds things like her café and their new group of friends. This is a life-altering revelation for Monica, who feels bad for judging Alice so harshly. Riley apologizes to Monica about withholding the information about the journal and she rests her head against his shoulder.

Alice returns home after the day in Paris to Max asking her to prepare food. She checks Julian’s Instagram, which is steadily growing in followers. While volunteering at the charity home for troubled mothers and their children, Alice realizes she’s lost the green notebook.

The art classes start again, and Hazard and Alice join. Julian has been revived by his class and popular Instagram account. He wonders if the joy he gets from being recognized and watched means that he is shallow.

Hazard begins volunteering at Mummy’s Little Helper, the charity Alice promotes. He discusses addiction with some of the mothers in recovery. Hazard enjoys the work but needs to find another paid job soon. Hazard concocts a business idea to train some of the mothers at Mummy’s Little Helper as gardeners. Hazard admires Monica for starting her own business and wonders what she would do in his situation. He receives an invitation to a wedding for Daphne and Rita, two women he had met on the island.

Riley and Monica meet at the Admiral’s grave for the group’s weekly check-in, but Julian isn’t there. They see online that he is partying with fashion icons. Monica is hesitant to restart her relationship with Riley, who encourages her to follow her heart and travel with him if they work out. On their way out of the cemetery, Monica stops by the grave of the political activist Emmeline Pankhurst.