Courtney Summers is the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of several novels for young adults, including Cracked Up to Be, All the Rage and Sadie. Her work has been released to multiple starred reviews, received numerous awards and honours–including the Edgar Award, John Spray Mystery Award, Cybils Award and Odyssey Award–and has been recognized by many library, ‘Best Of’ and Readers’ Choice lists. She lives and writes in Canada.
Today, Courtney Summers is on the blog to answer a few of our questions about her new young adult cult thriller, The Project (out now in paperback in Australia). Read on …
Courtney Summers (Photo by Megan Gunter).
Please tell us about your novel, The Project.
CS: The Project is a book about an aspiring young journalist named Lo, who is determined to save her sister from The Unity Project, a charitable organisation she’s long suspected is a cult. When the opportunity to write an expose on The Project presents itself, Lo leaps at the chance—but it puts her in the direct path of its charismatic leader, Lev Warren . . . and he’ll make her rethink everything she thinks she knows.
Lo Denham is a troubled yet determined teenager who’s also really vulnerable. As much as she’s a foil to Lev Warren, The Project’s magnetic leader, we can also see how she is drawn to him. Where did Lo’s character come from?
CS: It was important to me to write a character that readers could identify with—and with her inherent scepticism of The Unity Project, and her determination to take them down, I knew that would be Lo. Most people don’t believe they’d join a cult and she embodies that misconception almost too perfectly. I also wanted Lo to be the reader’s foil in a very specific way . . . but to say more about that would be a spoiler.
You’ve written books about sisters before, and The Project is partly centred on Lo and Bea Denham’s complicated but deeply loving relationship. How and when did you know that this book was going to be about sisters?
CS: I really love exploring the sister dynamic; it’s shown up repeatedly in my work. I think it’s a complex and meaty relationship to dive into and just when I think I’ve said all there is to say about it a new angle catches my interest. I knew pretty much from the outset, though it wasn’t until the second and final draft that I incorporated Bea’s perspective. Female relationships are really powerful and I always want them to play a large stake in my novels.
‘Most people don’t believe they’d join a cult and she [Lo] embodies that misconception almost too perfectly.’
The structure of The Project is interesting, alternating between Lo’s perspective and Bea’s so the reader gets conflicting accounts of Lev Warren. How did you go about creating his character and also making it believable?
CS: Lev really fell into place for me when I realised he believes everything he’s saying. When I first started writing him, I was always looking for moments I could ‘reveal’ him, when the mask would fall off—but once I realised he is what and who he says he is, he completely unlocked.
Who did you write this book for? Who do you wish would read it?
CS: The dedication says it’s for me but I’m okay with everyone else picking it up too.
What do you hope readers will discover in The Project?
CS: What a reader takes away from any of my novels is ultimately up to them, but I’d like for this one to challenge any misconceptions they might have about cult victims and survivors. This book asks people to engage with the text with the full force of their empathy. Not everyone will—but I hope that they do.
Thanks Courtney!
CS: Thank you!
—The Project by Courtney Summers (Pan Macmillan Australia) is out now.
The Project
Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo's sister, Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of most in the Upstate New York region, but Lo knows there's more to the group than meets the eye. She's spent the last six years of her life trying - and failing - to prove it.
When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect...
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