The Truth Project

Debut author Dante Medema explores the emotional fallout after a teenage girl discovers she is the product of an affair. Told through a series of poems, text messages, and emails, this emotional young adult novel in verse is perfect for fans of Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin.

Seventeen-year-old Cordelia Koenig intended to breeze through her senior project. While her peers stressed, Cordelia planned to use the same trace-your-roots genealogy idea her older sister used years prior. And getting partnered with her longtime crush, Kodiak Jones, is icing on the cake. All she needs to do is mail in her DNA sample, write about her ancestry results, and get that easy A.

But when Cordelia’s DNA test discovery reveals that her father is not the person she thought he was, but a stranger who lives thousands of miles away, her entire world shatters. Now she isn’t sure of anything—not the mother who lied, the man she calls Dad, or the girl staring back at her in the mirror.

If your life began with a lie, how can you ever be sure of what's true?

• Family Secrets: A single DNA test shatters seventeen-year-old Cordelia’s world, revealing her entire life is built on her mother’s lie and sending her on a search for a father she never knew existed.
• Coming of Age Story: Told through poems, text messages, and emails, this unique novel explores the struggle to define yourself when you can’t trust the people you love or the girl in the mirror.
• Friends to Lovers Romance: Partnered with her longtime crush, Kodiak Jones, for a school project, Cordelia finds a confidant in the one person who sees her truth—even when she can’t.
• A Quest for Identity: For every teen who has ever felt like they don’t quite fit in, Cordelia’s journey to uncover her past raises the ultimate question: does nature or nurture make us who we are?