Memoir of Girl's Escape from Drugs, Gangs Is Bogus
Margaret Jones' memoir, Love and Consequences, recounts her early days selling drugs in South Central Los Angeles as well as her eventual escape to college and publishing. If it sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. The story is just the latest in a string of frauds that have rocked the publishing industry.
Robert Siegel talks with Sara Nelson, editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly.
Author Admits Gang Memoir Was Fabricated
Seltzer Discusses the Memoir
Margaret Seltzer, under the pseudonym Margaret B. Jones, discusses her memoir in a recent interview with NPR's Michel Martin. The interview was recorded before Seltzer admitted the book was fabricated. It never aired.
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A memoir describing a woman's childhood on the streets of South Central Los Angeles, which included gripping stories of drugs and violence, was fabricated, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Margaret Seltzer's book, Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival, written under the pseudonym Margaret B. Jones, was praised for its heartfelt but tough-minded portrayal of life in South Central. Seltzer, who goes by Peggy, confessed to the Times that she made it up after her sister contacted the paper.
Riverhead Books, which published the book, is recalling it from stores.
Seltzer sat for an interview with Tell Me More to discuss the book before she confessed it was fabricated.
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