# Verity *By Colleen Hoover. Self-published 7 December 2018; republished by Grand Central Publishing (Hachette) on 26 October 2021.* > I did not read the novel. The premise and publication history come from Wikipedia and a publisher/catalog listing; availability from catalog lookups I ran. **This note gives only the setup and does not reveal the ending or any twist.** ## 1. Book facts | | | |---|---| | Title | *Verity* | | Author | Colleen Hoover | | Publisher | Self-published (7 December 2018); Grand Central Publishing, an imprint of Hachette Book Group (2021 reprint) | | ISBN | 9781538724736 (Grand Central paperback, 336 pages as listed) | | Genre | Psychological romantic thriller; Wikipedia calls it a departure from Hoover's earlier contemporary romance | | Themes (Wikipedia) | Obsession, deception, and the shifting boundaries between truth and fiction | | Awards (Wikipedia) | Goodreads Choice Award nominee, Best Romance, 2019; Lovelybooks Leserpreis for Romance, 2020; British Book Award for Pageturner, 2023 | | Language | English | **Where it came up.** One mention, as a "writer protagonist" example: - [If I Read One More Villain Like This… (5 Characters We Need to Banish)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-i4PpLWReA&t=255s), Alyssa Matesic, at 4:15: *Verity* and *Woman Down* by Hoover, *Yellowface*, *The Plot*, *Writers & Lovers* and *The Writing Retreat* as examples of the cliché. She says she enjoyed many of them, but the cliché still needs naming. Vault note: [[Video Summaries/Alyssa Matesic/If I Read One More Villain Like This (5 Characters We Need to Banish)]] ## 2. Book resources **Free (legal).** In copyright; no legal free full text. - **Library ebook and audiobook (Libby/OverDrive).** The Los Angeles Public Library catalog lists several *Verity* ebook records, for example [7115460](https://www.overdrive.com/media/7115460) and [5353462](https://www.overdrive.com/media/5353462). Records for different editions exist, so one may be available when the other is waitlisted. Your own library may or may not hold them. - **Internet Archive / Open Library.** Open Library has [a work record](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20068530W) with no readable scan. Some Internet Archive items with "Verity" in the title appear to be unofficial uploads of a copyrighted book, so I do not link them. I did not check Hoopla. **Paid.** - Audible: [*Verity*, narrated by Vanessa Johansson (ASIN B07Q769RZS)](https://www.audible.com/pd/B07Q769RZS), found in an Audible search; I did not check the price. - Print and Kindle: widely sold. I did not open an Amazon listing, so I have not checked price, stock or Kindle availability. **Cover:** [Open Library cover image](https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/8747160-L.jpg) (the cover Open Library holds for this work; I did not check which edition it shows). ## 3. Author biography Colleen Hoover (born 11 December 1979, Sulphur Springs, Texas) writes mainly romance and young adult fiction. She studied social work at Texas A&M University–Commerce, self-published *Slammed* in 2012, and signed with Atria Books soon after. *Hopeless* was the first self-published novel to reach #1 on the *New York Times* list. She is best known for *It Ends with Us* (2016) and *Verity* (self-published 2018, republished by Grand Central in 2021). Wikipedia puts her sales at about 20 million books as of October 2022 and notes her 2023 *Time* 100 listing. Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_Hoover); her site is [colleenhoover.com](https://www.colleenhoover.com). ## 4. Author interviews and talks These come from a search tool's summaries; I did not open the pages. - [A Q&A with Colleen Hoover for Verity](http://www.waterstones.com/blog/a-qanda-with-colleen-hoover-for-verity), Waterstones blog. - [Colleen Hoover Picks Her Riskiest and Most Romantic Novels](https://www.vulture.com/article/colleen-hoover-best-books-most-romantic-riskiest.html), Vulture. The search tool says she describes working on *Verity* for about two months, often 12 hours a day. - [Colleen Hoover Was Also Confused by the 'Verity' Ending](https://people.com/colleen-hoover-was-also-confused-by-the-verity-ending-12181898), People (a clip from the *Booked, Blonde and Busy* podcast). - [SuperSummary: Colleen Hoover quotes about Verity](https://www.supersummary.com/verity/author-insights/): the search summary says she wrote it in 2018, outlined it before dawn and wrote from Lowen's perspective only, so Verity's account appears solely through her manuscript. Treat as second-hand. ## 5. Summary **Setup (Wikipedia; no spoilers).** Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer who has just lost her mother and has little money. After witnessing a traffic accident on her way to a meeting with a publisher, she is helped by a stranger, Jeremy Crawford, who turns out to be the husband of the bestselling author Verity Crawford. Verity has been left unable to write after a car crash, so Jeremy hires Lowen to finish her hit series. Lowen goes to the Crawfords' remote lake house to read Verity's notes, and discovers an unpublished autobiographical manuscript among them. The book then turns on what that manuscript says, whether it can be trusted, and what is really going on in the house. **Why it is in the video.** Matesic lists it among stories whose protagonists are writers: Lowen is a ghostwriter. Her point is not that those books are bad but that "writers love to write about writers", and she would like to see other professions. **Chapter outline.** I found no chapter list. **Reception (Wikipedia).** Generally positive reviews; republished by a major publisher in 2021 after a surge of popularity, and Wikipedia describes the nominations and prizes listed above. ## 6. Fact-check Overall verdict: **supported**. The video only names the book as an example, and the setup matches. | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---| | *Verity* (2018) by Hoover | Supported | Wikipedia: self-published 7 December 2018 | | The protagonist is a writer | Supported | Lowen is a ghostwriter hired to finish another author's series | | Grand Central reprint on 26 October 2021, 336 pages, ISBN 9781538724736 | Supported, secondary | Listing data from my earlier lookup; I did not open a retailer page this session | | Goodreads Choice 2019 nomination; British Book Award 2023 | Supported | Wikipedia | | Hoover's remarks on how she wrote it | Second-hand | Search-tool summaries of Waterstones, Vulture, SuperSummary and People pages; not opened | ## 7. Citations and references - [Wikipedia: Verity (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verity_(novel)); [Wikipedia: Colleen Hoover](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_Hoover) - [Open Library: Verity](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20068530W); LAPL OverDrive records [7115460](https://www.overdrive.com/media/7115460) and [5353462](https://www.overdrive.com/media/5353462) - [Audible: Verity](https://www.audible.com/pd/B07Q769RZS) - Interview pages listed in section 4 (unopened) - Video: [If I Read One More Villain Like This… (5 Characters We Need to Banish)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-i4PpLWReA) (Alyssa Matesic)