“The truth often isn’t pretty. It’s not aspirational. It doesn’t fit neatly into a little square on Instagram.”
If you fell head over heels for The Authenticity Project, you’re not alone. This heartwarming novel about strangers connecting through honesty and vulnerability struck a deep chord with readers across the globe. Its blend of uplifting fiction, quirky characters, and themes of community, connection, and second chances makes it the perfect feel-good read. If you’ve found yourself looking for more books like The Authenticity Project, this list is for you. Whether you’re drawn to tales of found families, uplifting character-driven fiction, or novels that will restore your faith in humanity, these reads capture the same cosy, hopeful spirit. From charming contemporary fiction to inspiring stories of self-discovery, join us at What We Reading for the best books similar to The Authenticity Project that will warm your heart and brighten your bookshelf!
The Secret Life Of Albert Entwistle – Matt Cain
First stop on our list of books like The Authenticity Project is Matt Cain’s life-affirming novel, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle. Albert Entwistle is a private man with a simple, quiet life. He lives alone with his cat, Gracie. And he’s a postman. At least, he was. Three months before his sixty-fifth birthday, he receives a letter forcing him into retirement. Suddenly, without the work to fill his day, he is forced to wrestle with the gaping hole his life has slowly become.
And so, rather than continue his lonely existence, Albert constructs a brave plan to start really living. It’s finally time to be honest about who he is. To find happiness, he has always denied himself. And to find the courage to seek out George, the man that, many years ago, he loved and lost – but has never forgotten. As he does, something extraordinary happens. Albert discovers new friends and proves that it’s never too late to live, to hope, and to hope.
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
Eleanor Oliphant struggles with appropriate social skills and has a tendency to say precisely what she is thinking. Her carefully constructed life is filled with frozen pizza, vodka, and phone calls with her mother. Yet, everything changes when she meets Ryamond, the bumbling and unhygienic IT worker in her office building. When the pair of them save Sammy, an elderly man who has fallen on the pavement, the trio become the kind of friends who rescue one another from the isolation they’ve all been enduring.
And it is in Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor discover a way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. Similar to The Authenticity Project, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is a big-hearted, warm, and uplifting journey of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness leads to a journey of discovering that the only way to survive is by opening your heart.
Check Out The Best Books Like Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
The Reading List – Sarah Nisha Adams
Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Ealing after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading whilst he spends the evening watching documentaries. Aleisha is a bright but anxious teen working at the local library. She discovers a crumpled piece of paper with a list of books she’s never heard of before. Intrigued, she decides to read each book on the list. As each story provides its magic, the books whisk Aleisha from the painful realities she’s facing at home.
When Mukesh arrives at the library, Aleisha passes along the list, hoping that it will provide the same lifeline to him as it did for her. Slowly, the shared books create a sense of connection between two lonely souls, the fiction helping them to escape grief and rediscover joy in a way that anyone who loved The Authenticity Project is sure to recognise.
The People We Keep – Allison Larkin
Little River, New York, 1994: April Sawicki is living in a motorless motorhome that her father won in a poker game. Failing out of school, picking up shifts at a local diner, she’s fending for herself in a town she doesn’t feel she belongs in. When she “borrows” her neighbour’s car, she realises her life can become much bigger than where she came from. After a fight with her father, she packs up her stuff and leaves for good, embarking on a journey to find a life that’s all hers.
As April moves through the world, meeting people who feel like home, she charts her life in the songs she writes and discovers that where she comes from doesn’t dictate who she has to be. One of the best books like The Authenticity Project, The People We Keep, is an unflinchingly bright tale about the power of found family and the exceptional beauty of choosing to belong.
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The Lido – Libby Page
Kate is a twenty-six-year-old riddled with anxiety and panic attacks who works for a local paper in Brixton. When she’s assigned to cover the closing of a local lido, she meets Rosemary, an elderly widower who has swum at the lido every day since it first opened its doors. It was here that Rosemary fell in love with her husband, George, and here that she honours his memory. But when a local developer tries to buy the lido to turn it into a plush new apartment complex, Rosemary’s memories are pushed under threat.
As Kate immerses herself in the history of the lido, she pieces together a portrait of a pool and a portrait of a singular, remarkable woman. What starts out as a simple interest story soon blossoms into a beautiful friendship that provides sustenance for the two women and galvanises a local community. Like The Authenticity Project, The Lido is a charming, feel-good novel that captures the spirit of community across generations in an irresistible tale of love, loss, ageing, and friendship.
Check Out These Books That Will Break Your Heart (In The Best Way)
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
