How Seltzer sold a fake

A memoir written by a white woman who claimed to be raised by a black foster mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles has turned out to be a work of fiction. How did this happen? said Chris Cechin in Radar Online.

What happened

A memoir written by a white woman who claimed to be raised by a black foster mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles has turned out to be a work of fiction. In Love and Consequences, which was published last week by Penguin imprint Riverhead Books, Margaret B. Jones writes about growing up half-white and half–Native American in South Central L.A., and about gun-slinging and selling drugs for the Bloods gang. But after seeing a feature article on Jones in The New York Times recently, Jones’ older sister, Cyndi Hoffman, contacted Riverhead Books and revealed that Jones’ real name is Margaret Seltzer, that she is not half Native American, that she grew up in an affluent neighborhood in California’s San Fernando Valley, that she had attended a private school, and that she had never lived with a foster family or sold drugs. The publisher has recalled all copies of the book. (AP)

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up