Publisher drops author of 'A Million Little Pieces'

James Frey, who admitted last month he made up much of his best-selling memoir ''A Million Little Pieces," has been dropped by his publisher, Riverhead Books, Frey's representative said yesterday.

Frey's unmasking and public confession to Oprah Winfrey, whose endorsement catapulted the drug-rehab memoir to the top of the bestseller list, has rocked the US publishing industry, stirring debate about the nature of memoirs and the importance of accuracy.

After writing ''A Million Little Pieces" for Random House, Frey moved with his editor Sean McDonald to Penguin imprint Riverhead Books, which published his second book, ''My Friend Leonard," last June. Riverhead then contracted Frey to write two more books.

Penguin said last month that the deal was ''under discussion," and Frey's representative, Lisa Kussell, said yesterday the deal had been canceled. ''All I can say is he no longer has a deal with them," Kussell said. Penguin spokesman David Zimmer declined to comment.

The uproar over Frey's book started when the Smoking Gun website said it could find no records supporting the author's claim he had spent three months in jail after trying to run over a police officer.

Frey's book sold more than 1.77 million copies last year after being chosen by Winfrey for her book club.

On another appearance on Winfrey's show last month, Frey admitted that much of the book was fiction. He spent two hours in jail, not 87 days, and an account of his breaking up with a woman who later committed suicide was condensed in time and changed, he said.

The Los Angeles Times reported last month that Warner Bros. was reconsidering plans to make a movie of ''A Million Little Pieces."

Despite the controversy, Frey's sales remain strong. ''A Million Little Pieces" was in the No. 2 spot on The New York Times's latest paperback nonfiction bestseller list, just behind Elie Wiesel's ''Night," which is Winfrey's latest book club recommendation.

REUTERS