Explore the real-world places that appear in The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Clare's Apartment, Café Nero (The Café), Royal College of Art, Riley's Flat, Hazard's Neighborhood and 10 more.
Notting Hill — Where the notebook begins
Clare Markham's flat in Notting Hill is the birthplace of The Authenticity Project — a blank notebook in which she writes a brutally honest confession about her failed marriage, her depression, and the masks she wears. She leaves the notebook in a café, not expecting it to return, but it becomes a catalyst that connects five strangers across London. Clare's apartment represents her interior world: lonely, isolated, but also the place where she dares to be truthful.
Notting Hill has been a fashionable London neighborhood since the 1950s, known for its colorful Victorian and Edwardian houses, antique shops, and bohemian character. It became particularly trendy in the 1990s and 2000s.
Notting Hill remains one of London's most desirable and expensive residential areas, famous for its independent bookshops, vintage boutiques, and the annual Notting Hill Carnival. The neighborhood attracts artists, writers, and affluent professionals.
Notting Hill — Where the notebook is left and discovered
This café is the neutral ground where Clare leaves the notebook after her confession, and where Venetia, a glamorous woman with a seemingly perfect life, discovers it. The café becomes the recurring meeting point where the five characters — Clare, Venetia, Jem, Riley, and Hazard — begin to cross paths and recognize themselves in each other's truths. It's a liminal space where masks slip and authenticity emerges.
Café Nero originated in London in 1997 and has become one of the UK's largest coffee chains, with locations throughout the city and across Europe. Notting Hill locations are popular gathering spots.
Café Nero continues to operate throughout London, including in Notting Hill. It remains a social hub for locals and tourists, serving coffee and pastries in a casual, accessible environment.
Visit: Café Nero, Notting Hill (restaurant)
Kensington Gore — Where Jem teaches photography
Jem Quinn teaches photography at the Royal College of Art, where he struggles between maintaining his reputation as a brilliant perfectionist and hiding his secret shame: his professional photographs are largely created by his talented student, Riley, who does the actual creative work while Jem takes the credit and acclaim. His workplace represents his fraudulent success and the anxiety of being exposed as a fraud.
The Royal College of Art was founded in 1837 and is one of the world's leading art and design institutions, located in South Kensington. Its campus has educated generations of prominent artists, designers, and photographers.
The Royal College of Art remains a world-renowned institution, offering postgraduate degrees in various artistic disciplines. The Kensington Gore campus is open to the public for exhibitions and events, showcasing student and faculty work.
Visit: Royal College of Art (museum)
Streatham — The cramped student bedsit
Riley Martinez lives in a cramped, humble bedsit in Streatham, working multiple jobs while being systematically exploited by Jem, who steals his photographic work and ideas. Riley's flat is a contrast to the glamorous lives of the other characters — it represents struggle, youth, and invisible labor. When Riley finally confronts Jem about the stolen work, his small room becomes the site of a confrontation that will change everything.
Streatham is a residential area in South London that developed significantly in the Victorian era. It's traditionally been a middle and working-class neighborhood with a diverse population.
Streatham remains a vibrant, multicultural London neighborhood with independent shops, diverse restaurants, and affordable housing. It's popular with students and young professionals seeking reasonable rent.
Brixton — Where a homeless man's truth unfolds
Hazard is a homeless man who finds the notebook and adds his story to it, revealing the authentic person beneath his invisibility to London's citizens. His presence in the notebook and his eventual connection to the other four characters challenges their assumptions about homelessness, addiction, and human worth. Hazard's authentic self — educated, kind, and capable — contradicts every stereotype.
Brixton has been a significant London neighborhood since the 19th century, known for its Afro-Caribbean community, music scene, and cultural diversity. It experienced the Brixton Riots in 1981 and has a complex history of racial tensions and community resilience.
Brixton is a vibrant, culturally diverse neighborhood with a thriving music and arts scene, independent shops, and markets. It remains an important hub for London's Black British community and has undergone significant gentrification in recent years.
Visit: Brixton Market (landmark)
Bloomsbury — Where Venetia seeks refuge and meaning
The British Museum serves as a sanctuary for Venetia, who spends her days there despite her picture-perfect life feeling hollow. She wanders the galleries seeking authenticity and connection, finding solace in ancient artifacts and the anonymity of crowds. The museum represents her search for something real and lasting beyond the superficial world of social media and appearances.
The British Museum was founded in 1753 and is one of the world's oldest and largest museums, housing millions of artifacts from human history and cultures. Its neoclassical building in Bloomsbury opened in 1847.
The British Museum remains one of London's most visited attractions, free to enter, with world-famous collections including the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies. Its reading room and galleries attract millions of visitors annually.
Visit: The British Museum (museum)
Chelsea — The façade of perfection
Venetia's Chelsea townhouse is a monument to curated perfection — the carefully designed backdrop for her Instagram life and her role as a successful businesswoman and mother. Behind closed doors, however, her marriage is hollow, her businesses are failing, and her entire identity is constructed for public consumption. The house represents the gap between her authentic self and the image she projects.
Chelsea has been one of London's most exclusive and fashionable neighborhoods since the 18th century, known for its elegant Georgian and Victorian townhouses, upmarket shops, and cultural institutions. It became particularly fashionable among artists and bohemians in the 1960s.
Chelsea remains one of London's most expensive and prestigious neighborhoods, home to wealthy professionals, artists, and families. The tree-lined streets and period properties make it one of the city's most desirable addresses.
Soho — Where connections deepen
The gym in Soho becomes an unexpected social nexus where some of the characters cross paths and begin to recognize each other from the notebook. It represents a space where people strip away pretense — literally undressed and vulnerable — and where the pursuit of self-improvement parallels the novel's theme of becoming more authentic.
Soho has been a vibrant, bohemian London neighborhood since the 17th century, known for its theaters, restaurants, nightlife, and diverse communities. It became famous as an entertainment and culture district.
Soho remains one of London's most lively and eclectic neighborhoods, with theaters, restaurants, bars, independent shops, and a thriving LGBTQ+ community. It continues to evolve while maintaining its countercultural character.
Visit: Soho Gyms and Fitness Centers (landmark)
Lambeth to Westminster — Where reflection happens
The South Bank of the Thames serves as a contemplative landscape in the novel, where characters walk and reflect on their lives, their choices, and the masks they wear. The river represents flow, change, and the passage of time — a natural counterpoint to the constructed, curated lives of the main characters.
The Thames has been the lifeblood of London for two millennia, serving as its geographic and economic center. The South Bank became a major cultural and entertainment district, especially after the 1951 Festival of Britain.
The South Bank is one of London's premier cultural and recreational areas, with the Southbank Centre, National Theatre, Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe, and extensive public walkways. It's a major tourist destination and gathering place for Londoners.
Visit: South Bank, London (park)
East London — The site of creative theft
Jem's professional photography studio in East London is where the real work happens — work that Riley secretly performs while Jem presents it as his own. The studio is the epicenter of professional fraud and exploitation, where Jem's reputation as a visionary photographer is built on stolen talent. It's the space where Riley's authenticity and Jem's deception most directly collide.
East London has transformed from an industrial and working-class area to a hub for artists, creative industries, and trendy galleries. The Shoreditch and Bethnal Green areas became known for street art, independent galleries, and creative studios from the 2000s onward.
East London continues to be a major creative and cultural hub, with galleries, studio spaces, boutiques, street art, and fashionable restaurants. It attracts artists, designers, and young professionals seeking authentic creative communities.
Visit: East London Art Galleries and Studios (landmark)
Ludgate Hill — Symbol of permanence and truth
St. Paul's Cathedral appears in the novel as an iconic landmark representing permanence, spirituality, and truth in a transient city. Characters encounter it in moments of reflection or revelation, and its enduring presence contrasts with the ephemeral nature of their constructed identities and social media personas.
St. Paul's Cathedral, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was completed in 1697 after the Great Fire of London in 1666. It's one of the world's most iconic buildings and has witnessed significant historical events, from royal weddings to WWII bombing.
St. Paul's Cathedral remains one of London's most visited and recognizable landmarks. It's an active place of worship and a major tourist attraction, offering visitors access to the interior, the Whispering Gallery, and the Dome.
Visit: St. Paul's Cathedral (historic site)
Notting Hill — Where stories intersect
A bookshop in Notting Hill serves as a metaphorical and literal space in the novel where stories and lives intersect. The quiet environment of books and readers provides contrast to the digital noise of social media and represents the kind of intentional, unhurried human connection that the characters are seeking.
Notting Hill has been home to numerous independent bookshops since the mid-20th century. These shops became gathering places for writers, intellectuals, and bohemians, contributing to the neighborhood's cultural character.
Notting Hill maintains several independent bookshops, including the famous Atlantis Bookshop and others that preserve the neighborhood's literary tradition. These remain important cultural gathering spaces.
Visit: Notting Hill Bookshops (landmark)
Central London — Open space for reflection
Regent's Park provides a green sanctuary in the urban landscape where characters can step away from their constructed lives and the surveillance of social media. The park represents a return to simplicity and unmediated experience, where people can exist without an audience.
Regent's Park was created in the early 19th century as part of urban development initiatives. Designed as a pleasure garden and recreational space, it's one of London's finest examples of Georgian landscape design.
Regent's Park remains one of London's most beautiful and popular public parks, featuring manicured gardens, a boating lake, an open-air theater, and recreational facilities. It attracts millions of visitors annually.
Visit: Regent's Park (park)
Central London Business District — The empire of illusion
Venetia runs her supposedly successful online fashion and lifestyle business from an office in central London. Her corporate world is built on the same inauthenticity that defines her personal life — carefully curated content, manufactured trends, and hollow success. The office represents the commodification of authenticity itself, selling products and images of lives that nobody actually lives.
Central London's financial and business districts developed around the City of London, with modern office architecture proliferating from the 1960s onward. The area became dominated by corporate headquarters and financial institutions.
Central London remains the hub of London's business, finance, and commerce sectors, with high-rise office buildings, corporate headquarters, and financial institutions. The area underwent significant transformation after the 2008 financial crisis.
West End — Urban theater and performance
Covent Garden appears as a vibrant public space filled with performers, tourists, and urban theater — a place where people consciously perform their identities. The characters navigate through this landscape of masks and authenticity, where street performers paradoxically embody truth while the shoppers carefully construct their public selves.
Covent Garden has been a significant London location since the 17th century, originally a fruit and vegetable market. The Victorian market building and surrounding area developed into a cultural and entertainment district.
Covent Garden remains one of London's major tourist destinations, home to the Royal Opera House, independent shops, galleries, restaurants, and street performers. The market itself sells crafts and goods, and the piazza hosts regular cultural events.
Visit: Covent Garden (landmark)
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