Quiz None of This Is True Lisa Jewell

None of This Is True Quiz: 20 Questions to Test Your Recall

Quiz Instructions

This quiz covers the entire novel None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell. It contains 20 questions: 8 plot/sequence, 5 character motivation, 4 theme/symbol, and 3 synthesis questions. Formats include multiple-choice and short-answer. The answer key follows all questions.

Section A: Plot and Sequence (8 questions)

  1. [Multiple-choice] At which pub do Josie Fair and Alix Summer first meet on the evening of Saturday, 8 June 2019?
    A) The Queen’s Arms
    B) The Lansdowne
    C) The Stag and Hound
    D) The Kilburn Tavern

  2. [Short-answer] After Josie steals Alix’s gold bracelet, where does she hide it?

  3. [Multiple-choice] During the tense dinner at Alix’s house on Friday, 12 July, Walter Fair warns Alix that Josie has an “elastic relationship with the truth.” What does Walter claim Josie does without people realising?
    A) Lies about her age
    B) Controls them
    C) Steals small objects
    D) Spies on neighbours

  4. [Short-answer] What item does Josie steal from Alix’s studio on Tuesday, 9 July? (Hint: she kisses it.)

  5. [Multiple-choice] On Thursday, 11 July, Josie finally accuses Walter of being a pedophile. What specific reason does she give during the argument?
    A) He had sex with her when she was sixteen and he was forty-three
    B) He groomed their daughter Erin
    C) He abused Roxy’s friend Brooke
    D) He watched illegal content online

  6. [Short-answer] After Josie leaves Alix’s house on Saturday, 20 July, she checks a stash of cash she has secretly withdrawn from ATMs, held together with what item belonging to Eliza?

  7. [Multiple-choice] At the Lake Windermere lodge, police find evidence that Nathan was held there. Where is Nathan’s body eventually discovered?
    A) In the boot of a car
    B) In shallow water
    C) Buried in the garden
    D) In the lodge’s basement

  8. [Short-answer] In the final chapter (Chapter 39, March 2022), as Josie rides the bus, she recalls the night of Brooke Ripley’s death. According to Josie’s memory, who was kneeling over Brooke’s body wailing “I didn’t mean to do it”?

Section B: Character Motivation (5 questions)

  1. [Multiple-choice] Why does Josie initially approach Alix to propose a podcast?
    A) She wants money
    B) She believes she is on the cusp of great changes and wants to document her story
    C) She wants to expose Walter’s crimes
    D) She wants to become a podcaster herself

  2. [Short-answer] Alix agrees to keep Josie’s podcast a secret from her husband Nathan. What reason does Alix give herself for not telling Nathan the full truth about the project?

  3. [Multiple-choice] What motivates Josie to plant evidence (the cocaine bag, hotel key card, and napkin) in Alix’s shoe rack?
    A) To frame Nathan for a crime
    B) To make Alix believe Nathan is cheating and thus drive a wedge between them
    C) To get revenge on Nathan for being rude to her
    D) To distract Alix from discovering Josie’s own lies

  4. [Short-answer] In her voicemail to Alix after Nathan’s death, Josie claims she was trying to do what? (Quote the key phrase: “I was trying to be ____.”)

  5. [Multiple-choice] Erin Fair, after waking from her coma, recounts the night of Walter’s death. What does she say Josie did immediately after Walter fell clutching his chest?
    A) Called an ambulance
    B) Stood over them both with a blank face and said “I am not mad. I am not stupid.”
    C) Ran from the room
    D) Began to cry and apologise

Section C: Theme and Symbol (4 questions)

  1. [Multiple-choice] What does the denim jacket symbolise for Josie?
    A) Her youthful rebellion
    B) The identity she adopted when she first met Walter and the loss of her true self
    C) Her working-class background
    D) A protective charm against bad luck

  2. [Short-answer] Alix’s bumblebee necklace is stolen by Josie but never recovered. What does the necklace represent for Alix? (Answer in one or two words.)

  3. [Multiple-choice] The passionflower that Josie steals from Alix’s garden on Sunday, 23 June is best understood as a symbol of:
    A) Jealousy and a desire to possess Alix’s life
    B) The beauty of the natural world
    C) Josie’s love of gardening
    D) An omen of death

  4. [Short-answer] The title None of This Is True appears on the cover and is echoed by several characters. What overarching theme does the title point to? (Answer in a single word.)

Section D: Synthesis Questions (3 questions)

  1. [Short-answer] Consider the podcast framing device. If the story were told only from Alix’s point of view (without Josie’s internal chapters), what would the reader gain and what would the reader lose? Provide one gain and one loss. (Answer in 2–3 sentences.)

  2. [Multiple-choice] Which character is the most unreliable narrator in the novel?
    A) Alix Summer
    B) Nathan Summer
    C) Josie Fair
    D) Erin Fair

  3. [Short-answer] The novel ends with Josie on a bus, convinced she is a “true mother” who has done nothing wrong. In light of the entire story, do you think the author, Lisa Jewell, expects us to believe Josie’s self-justification? Write “Yes” or “No” and explain briefly in one sentence.

Answer Key

1. B) The Lansdowne
Explanation: Chapter 1 opens at the Lansdowne gastropub where Josie spots Alix’s birthday party. This sets the “birthday twin” coincidence in motion.

2. Josie hides the bracelet in her drawer at home, kissing it as she puts it away.
Explanation: In Chapter 17 (Monday, 8 July), Josie steals the gold bracelet and hides it among her own things, treating it as a fetish object.

3. B) Controls them
Explanation: In Chapter 21, Walter tells Alix that Josie is a control freak and that you don’t realise you’re being controlled until it’s too late.

4. A teaspoon
Explanation: In Chapter 18 (Tuesday, 9 July), Josie steals a teaspoon from Alix’s studio and kisses it before hiding it.

5. A) He had sex with her when she was sixteen and he was forty-three
Explanation: In Chapter 20, Josie directly accuses Walter of being a pedophile for grooming and having sex with her as a teenager.

6. Eliza’s hairband
Explanation: In Chapter 28, Josie uses a hairband she took from the house to bundle the cash.

7. B) In shallow water
Explanation: Chapter 34 confirms that Nathan’s body was discovered in shallow water near Windermere.

8. Roxy
Explanation: In the final chapter, Josie’s memory shows Roxy kneeling over Brooke’s body, wailing “I didn’t mean to do it.”

9. B) She believes she is on the cusp of great changes and wants to document her story
Explanation: In Chapter 4, Josie tells Alix she’s about to change her life and proposes the podcast as a way to follow that transformation.

10. Alix tells herself she no longer trusts Nathan after his “lost control” incident and wants to protect the project from his judgment.
Explanation: In Chapter 9, Alix lies to Nathan because she feels she can’t trust him with the sensitive nature of Josie’s story.

11. B) To make Alix believe Nathan is cheating and thus drive a wedge between them
Explanation: Josie pays Katelyn to lure Nathan and then plants the hotel evidence to make Alix suspect infidelity. Katelyn confirms this in the documentary segments.

12. “I was trying to be helpful.”
Explanation: In her voicemail (Chapter 34), Josie says she was trying to show Alix how much better her life could be without Nathan.

13. B) Stood over them both with a blank face and said “I am not mad. I am not stupid.”
Explanation: Erin’s testimony in Chapter 35 describes Josie’s cold, violent reaction after Walter collapsed.

14. B) The identity she adopted when she first met Walter and the loss of her true self
Explanation: Josie abandons her denim lucky jacket in Chapter 14, symbolising her attempt to shed the persona Walter imposed on her.

15. (Possible answers: “Stability,” “Home,” “Identity.” Accept any single word conveying that it represents Alix’s sense of self or family.)
Explanation: The bumblebee necklace is repeatedly mentioned as a talisman of Alix’s balanced life; its theft mirrors Josie’s invasion of that life.

16. A) Jealousy and a desire to possess Alix’s life
Explanation: Josie steals the passionflower after watching Alix’s happy family scene, and she holds it all the way home—a clear act of possessive envy.

17. (Possible answers: “Unreliability,” “Deception,” “Truth.” Accept “Unreliability” or “Deception.”)
Explanation: The title calls into question every character’s version of events, especially Josie’s self-narrative. The novel explores how people rewrite reality.

18. (Sample answer: The reader would gain a clearer understanding of Alix’s investigative perspective and the ethical dilemmas of podcasting, but would lose the direct insight into Josie’s warped internal reasoning and the growing sense of menace that her chapters provide.)
Explanation: The reading group guide in Chapter 41 asks exactly this question, highlighting that either POV alone would change the experience radically.

19. C) Josie Fair
Explanation: Josie repeatedly contradicts herself and eventually admits even her own memory may be hallucination (Chapter 39). Walter, Alix, and Erin each have biases, but Josie is the most unreliable.

20. No. The author has constructed a narrative that systematically undermines Josie’s viewpoint, using other characters’ testimonies and the documentary framing to show that Josie has deluded herself into believing her own justifications.
Explanation: The epilogue and the Reading Group Guide’s discussion question #12 (“is she deluding herself?”) strongly suggest the author intends readers to see Josie as self-deceived.

Further Reading