That’s lovely,” she says. “Thank you so much.” She leans across and kisses Walter softly on the cheek. SE: This book has multiple layers of storytelling. There’s the narrative, but then there’s also the podcast that Josie and Alix do, and interspersed throughout the book are scenes from a Netflix show based on the podcast. Why did you decide to write the story in that way? The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot. Reflect on the concept of sharing a birthday. Can you relate to the sense of connection and curiosity that Josie and Alix feel? What do you think drives Josie to assign such significance to this seemingly ordinary coincidence? Imagine if Lisa Jewell had chosen a different narrative structure from this novel and only told it from one point of view. What would the reading experience be like if you only had Alix’s or Josie’s POV? What might you gain and what might you lose from only one woman’s perspective?

This is just soooo good that it is very hard to put down. The characterisation is excellent and I’m going to say little about either Alix or Josie as that is one of the joys of the book to discover for yourself! Your views on both of them undergo several U-turns via the plot revelations which makes for fascinating and at times, horrifying reading. One character in particular is a puzzling conundrum to say the very least! I read this in day which I am deliberately not doing any more, because this was such a captivating read and a great book overall. Having said that, there are a few things that keep me from giving this novel a higher rating. I know this is fiction and but a few things did bother me. None of the characters are particularly likeable (some worse than the others) which is fine. I know this is fiction but I could not ignore certain aspects of the story no matter how much I tried. Alix's inability to read the situation, her apparent blindness to several red flags in Josie’s behavior and her insensitivity to some extremely disturbing aspects of Josie’s life was off-putting. I also had issues with certain choices that were made in the handling of Josie’s present storyline. The author ventures into some very dark and disturbing themes in this novel (grooming, pedophilia, sexual abuse of a minor, trauma and mental health) and I’m not comfortable with the way those topics were presented.

Lisa Jewell

With her works translated into more than twenty-five languages, Lisa is a bestselling author gracing both New York Times and Sunday Times lists. She resides in north London with her husband, two teenage daughters, and the best dog in the world! Book Club Questions for None of This Is True

Plus she had all those weird conversations with Alix about how much better off she’d be if he was dead. So I’m not sure I buy her story that it was an accident. What was Josie’s Endgame? Q: What was your experience of writing from Josie’s perspective? Was it challenging to be inside her head? That woman,” she calls out to Nathan, pulling one of the cat’s claws out of her trousers. “The one who kept staring. She came into the toilet. Turns out it’s her forty-fifth birthday today too. That’s why she was staring.”

Even though Alix finds Josie's vibe unsettling, she admits there's something fascinating about her. She is intrigued. Lisa Jewell is an incredibly talented storyteller, as she can really take the odd day-to-day occurrences and entwine them with clear and concise character development, giving birth to novels that allow the reader to fully engage with the cast of characters, no matter if they are likable or despicable. This book is no different, and the multiple povs really give us insight into the various narrators inner thoughts and feelings while the tension ramps up around them. Josie and Alix couldn’t be more different; they come from different lifestyles and circumstances, and yet… Could they be more similar than originally meets the eye? Maybe Walter had been rejected by Brooke and/or Josie was jealous of Brooke’s closeness to Roxy. Maybe Josie fixated on Brooke the same way she did on Alix (someone makes the excellent point in comments that Josie tends to steal things from people she’s obsessed with, and she stole Brooke’s phone case). I thought Walter and Josie were both involved. Josie’s mother says that Walter and Josie are “both as bad as each other.” (I guess I was right about this.)

I just knew I was going to love it and per usual, I was right. Not only did I love it, I freaking loved it. This will definitely be on my Favorites of the Year list. In the very last scene, Josie is on a bus contemplating the past. She’s convinced herself that the way she remembers things is what really happened. Do you think we are supposed to believer her, or is she deluding herself? LJ: Yeah. With this one, it was quite unusual in that I knew what dynamic I wanted to create before I even knew who my characters were going to be, and then I found the characters that fitted into those places. But usually, it is literally a person. Quite often a person I’ve just seen fleetingly on the street or through a window. They get inside my head, and I’m convinced they’ve got a story to share with me, and I need to start writing around them to find out what it is, what their secrets are, what’s happened to them, or what’s about to happen to them. So yes, it is usually a person. Sometimes it’s even a house. Sometimes I’m convinced a house is holding secrets, a bit like Walter and Josie’s flat [in None of This Is True]. I just get this sense that there’s a secret somewhere, and I need to write about the house or the person to find out what it is. Over the years, she has penned a total of nineteen novels, with a recent focus on gripping psychological thrillers such as Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs, and The Night She Disappeared – all acclaimed selections of the Richard & Judy Book Club.

Find a Book

Alix Summer has a successful podcast that features women who have overcome extreme difficulties and hardship, to lead happy and successful lives.

If you liked Verity by @colleenhoover, I think you'll like this one!" —EMILY HENRY, New York Times bestselling authorIn the initial chapters, how does the author lead us to view Josie in a sympathetic manner? What techniques does Lisa Jewell employ to portray Josie as slightly eccentric or lonely, and how does this affect our perception of her as harmless? A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy. In one of her interviews with Alix, Josie does reference the “clean break” that one of Alix’s podcast guests discusses. The guest says death can be a clean break. SE: Do you know when you sit down to write where the story is going at all? Or what the ending is going to be?