This is a story about an author who published a very successful book about her childhood abuse, both mental and physical by her mother. The only problem? Her mom says the entier thing is false and is suing her daughter for libel. The author is a British lawyer named Constance Briscoe. She and her lawyer say that it was put in the biography section of the bookstores for the right reasons. It is not fiction. Her mom's lawyers say that there was never a complaint to a teacher, social services or anybody that could help her daughter when she was a child, therefore, there must not have been anything wrong.
I found this story interesting because it shows just how personal libel can be. If her daughter is lying about the abuse just to make a buck, that just goes to show how sensationalizing and fabricating things may help sell, but is completely unethical and illegal. There has been quite a few authors in recent years who have come under fire for almost the same allegations. They all say that their books are memoirs, when they are actually fiction.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27786378/
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Can we say James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces. He stated that this was his true story about his battle with drugs. I remember seeing him on Oprah and Oprah was just going crazy about this book. I then purchased the book, thinking of course this was a true story. His mother was crying about how wonderful her son was...and who would have thought the book that was true was actually false. It is true he had a drug addiction, but the way he stated that he became clean was not true. This was horrible for his career, because Oprah can be great for business or bad. She was angry that she was decieved. But, this is what people are doing nowadays to sell thier books. They are making things up in order to cash in on the public. I hope this author is telling the truth; otherwise, she has ripped her family apart to make a quick buck.
I too immediately thought of the book “A Million Little Pieces” by James Frey. I remember how controversial this book became after it was found that the author fabricated several things in the book. It too was marketed as a memoir and I remember when Oprah featured the book on her book list and later found out that Frey had lied about many of the happenings in the book.
Here’s a little bit of information about what happened with that case:
After a six week long investigation, The Smoking Gun published an article on January 8, 2006 called "A Million Little Lies". The article described fabrications in Frey's account of his drug abuse experiences, life, and criminal record. According to CNN, The Smoking Gun's Editor, William Bastone, said "the probe was prompted after the Oprah show aired". He further stated, "We initially set off to just find a mug shot of him... It basically set off a chain of events that started with us having a difficult time finding a booking photo of this guy".
The Minneapolis Star Tribune had questioned James Frey's claims as early as 2003. Frey responded then by saying, "I've never denied I've altered small details."
Recently, stories surfaced about Random House, publisher of A Million Little Pieces, deciding to give full refunds to anyone who has purchased this book directly through it. According to a Gawker.com report, customers could have a claim to money if they truly felt deceived by Frey.
In an article detailing the book, Frey is quoted saying he "stands by the book as being the essential truth of my life". However, on January 26, 2006, Frey once again appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and this time admitted that the same "demons" that had made him turn to alcohol and drugs had also driven him to fabricate crucial portions of his "memoir"; it first having been shopped as being a fiction novel but declined by many, including Random House itself. Oprah told Frey that she felt "really duped" but that, "more importantly, I feel that you betrayed millions of readers."
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