The Project cover art

The Project

The hot summer romcom from Vogue's dating columnist and author of Notes on a Heartbreak
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The Project

By: Annie Lord
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Summary

Modern dating’s a mess. Unfortunately, so are they.

When Daisy wakes up next to James – the annoying black sheep of their friendship group – she can’t believe what she’s done.

The problem is there are no good men left. At least, that’s what Daisy and her best friend Maya think. They’re all taken. Even the average ones have beautiful, seemingly perfect girlfriends.

Fed up with modern dating, Daisy and Maya decide to start 'The Project' to create a good guy out of some frankly embarrassing raw material. And who better to start with than James, the man who once told her he's never cried in his entire life and sounded proud of that fact?

Embarking on a series of lessons, from pretentious art exhibitions to feminist book clubs, clothes shopping trips and messy house parties, Daisy takes James on a journey of discovery. But which one of them will change more?

‘Annie Lord is a phenomenal talent’ DOLLY ALDERTON

‘A romcom for messy girls everywhere’ STYLIST

‘Raw, funny and sexy. When Harry Met Sally for the club smoking area' RÓISÍN LANIGAN

© Annie Lord 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 City Life Contemporary Friendship Genre Fiction Romantic Comedy Urban
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Critic reviews

A delicious romcom… the sort of sticky, summery book you’ll want to curl up with. Funny, tender and insightful, The Project cracks open the dynamics and dilemmas inherent to modern heterosexual dating and will have you pondering deeply as well as laughing
Searingly honest, always hilarious and the type of hopeless romantic the world needs right now, Annie Lord is a breath of fresh air. Her razor sharp writing and thoughtful takes stay with you long after you’ve finished reading; Lord is your favourite writer's favourite writer (Yomi Adegoke)
A joyful novel which shoots for the heart (Nicola Dinan, author of BELLIES)
A defining romcom for the millennial British woman. These characters are people I felt I already knew. Their world was one I recognised but rendered with unique brilliance by Annie Lord’s keen observations of modern romance and her warm, often very funny, prose (Shon Faye, author of LOVE IN EXILE)
Funny, knowing, and full of heart - this is a modern romcom where London feels vivid and alive, and the battle of the sexes gets a razor sharp contemporary twist. It's like if Helen Fielding wrote The Taming of The Shrew (William Rayfet Hunter, author of SUNSTRUCK)
Raw, funny and sexy. When Harry Met Sally for the club smoking area. Nora Ephron if she loved ketamine and sambuca (Róisín Lanigan, author of I WANT TO GO HOME BUT I'M ALREADY THERE)
If Gwendoline Riley and Dolly Alderton had a baby, it would write like Annie Lord. Beach, cafe, toilet: The Project was impossible to peel out of my hands. the read a generation of women have been waiting for (Moya Lothian-McLean)
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