Author of best-selling drug memoir accused of telling tales

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By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 11 January 2006


In his best-selling memoir, the writer James Frey documents in gut-wrenching detail his struggle with drug and alcohol abuse, the three months he spent in jail and the suicide of a close friend. The stark prose of A Million Little Pieces earned it an endorsement from Oprah Winfrey that sent its sales to more than two million copies in 2005; last year only Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J K Rowling sold more in the US.

Since then Frey has become something of a literary "It" figure, fêted by the critics and a regular in the New York celebrity columns. He is anticipating a film; the rights having been optioned by Gus Van Sant, who directed Good Will Hunting.

Frey's follow-up memoir,My Friend Leonard, is also topping sales lists. But now he is at the centre of a mounting controversy after it was alleged he may have been writing fiction rather than fact. An inquiry by an investigative website has suggested that crucial portions of his memoir were invented or embellished.

William Bastone, the editor of thesmokinggun.com website, said: "His book has a lot of stuff in it - events and characters - that seemed implausible. We decided to focus on those events where we thought there should be a paper trail - court documents, law enforcement documents. What we discovered significantly calls into question things he has repeatedly claimed are accurate and truthful ... rendition of events."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article337781.ece