"Verity" is a 2018 psychological romantic thriller novel written by American author Colleen Hoover. The story follows Lowen Ashleigh, a writer who is hired to complete a bestselling book series. The original author, Verity Crawford, could not continue because of an accident. While staying at the Crawford family home, Lowen finds an unfinished manuscript that reveals troubling information about Verity's past.

The book was first published online on December 7, 2018. It was later published again in 2021 by Grand Central Publishing, which is part of Hachette Book Group, after it became more popular. This novel is different from Hoover's earlier books, which are mostly contemporary romance stories. In "Verity," Hoover includes suspense and psychological tension, with themes such as obsession, deception, and the differences between truth and fiction.

The book received mostly positive reviews. It was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance in 2019. It also won the British Book Award for Pageturner in 2023 and the Lovelybooks Leserpreis for Romance in 2020.

Plot

Lowen Ashleigh is a writer who is still dealing with the loss of her mother. This loss has left her feeling alone and in charge of paying for her own living expenses. She is looking for any chance to improve her writing career and meets with a well-known publisher. On her way to the meeting, she sees a car accident and gets blood on her clothes. A man helps her calm down and gives her his shirt to wear instead of the blood-stained one. When she arrives at the meeting, the man is there. He is Jeremy Crawford, the husband of famous author Verity Crawford. Verity is in a coma after a car accident and cannot finish her popular book series. Jeremy asks Lowen to write the book for Verity. Lowen agrees and goes to the Crawfords' home to look at Verity's notes about the series.

Lowen arrives at a house near a lake, where Verity is unconscious in the couple's bedroom. She learns that Verity's daughter, Chastin, died months earlier from an allergic reaction. Soon after, Verity was on a boat with Chastin's twin sister, Harper, and their youngest son, Crew. The boat overturned, and Harper drowned while Verity tried to save Crew. Unable to cope with losing both daughters, Verity crashed her car into a tree, causing her to be in a coma.

Lowen finds an unpublished manuscript titled "So Be It," which describes Verity's deep love for Jeremy and her feelings of jealousy toward her daughters, Chastin and Harper. Verity admits to trying to end her pregnancy with the twins and harming them as infants. She claims she blames Harper for Chastin's death and intentionally caused the boat to capsize to make Harper drown. The manuscript ends with Verity saying she plans to kill herself by crashing her car into a tree to avoid legal trouble.

Shocked by these details, Lowen begins to suspect Verity is pretending to be in a coma, especially after hearing strange noises from her room. At the same time, Lowen starts to feel attracted to Jeremy and begins a romantic relationship with him. Lowen installs a security camera in Verity's room and sees Verity move her leg slightly. After thinking about this, Lowen tells Jeremy what she found.

Angry that Verity is faking her condition, Jeremy tries to choke her. Lowen sees this on the camera and stops him, warning that he could be arrested if his fingerprints are found on Verity's throat. At Lowen's request, Jeremy makes Verity vomit and covers her mouth and nose until she stops breathing, making it look like she died from breathing in something during sleep.

After Verity's death, Lowen and Jeremy say they love each other. Later, they visit the Crawfords' home to clean it out and find a letter from Verity to Jeremy hidden under the floorboards. The letter explains that "So Be It" was a fictional story written from the perspective of a villain and that Verity never harmed her children. It also reveals that Jeremy crashed the car to kill Verity after finding the manuscript. Verity survived but pretended to have brain damage to escape him.

Lowen is horrified to learn they may have killed an innocent woman and destroys the letter before Jeremy can see it. She believes the letter might be another lie from Verity and concludes that Verity was very good at hiding the truth, but she still wonders what truth Verity was hiding.

Characters

Lowen is the main character of the story. She is a writer who has trouble making money and is unsure about her writing career. After her mother passes away, she feels alone and afraid. Her life changes when she is given the opportunity to write a book for Verity Crawford, the author of a popular book series. As she spends more time at the Crawford family home, Lowen becomes emotionally involved with Jeremy and learns more about the family's hidden problems.

Verity is a well-known author. After a serious car accident, she appears to be unable to move or speak. Before the accident, she lived what seemed like a happy life with her husband, Jeremy, and their three children: Chastin, Harper, and Crew. A secret manuscript she wrote, titled So Be It, describes violent feelings toward her children and an intense love for Jeremy. However, a letter she wrote to Jeremy claims the manuscript was only a writing exercise, making it unclear whether the manuscript's contents are true.

Jeremy is Verity's husband. He is trying to care for his family after the deaths of his two daughters and his wife's inability to care for them. He is also trying to protect his remaining son, Crew. Over time, he develops feelings for Lowen and starts a secret relationship with her.

Crew is the five-year-old son of Verity and Jeremy. He is their only surviving child after the deaths of his older sisters.

Chastin and Harper were the eight-year-old twin daughters of Jeremy and Verity. Chastin died during a sleepover due to a severe allergic reaction to peanuts. Harper died by accident during a boat ride with Crew and Verity shortly after. Verity's unpublished manuscript, So Be It, suggests she had strong dislike for her daughters and that their deaths were indirectly caused by her mistreatment of them. However, it is not clear if this is true. Harper had autism and was diagnosed with the condition at age three.

Editions

The book first came out as a Kindle edition on December 7, 2018. Three days after that, on December 10, 2018, it was released as a paperback book.

Film adaptation

In 2020, it was announced that Amazon Studios would turn a novel into a movie with the same name. The movie's script was written by April Maguire and Will Honley. In December 2024, Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett, and Dakota Johnson joined the movie cast. The film is expected to be released in 2026.