New York – A Harvard University student’s “chick lit” novel has been permanently withdrawn and her two-book deal canceled, publisher Little, Brown and Co. announced Tuesday, as allegations of literary borrowing proliferated against Kaavya Viswanathan’s “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life.”
After making the announcement, Little, Brown, which had withdrawn the book last week, declined further comment. Tuesday’s decision caps a stunning downfall for the 19-year-old Vis wa nathan, a Harvard sophomore with a reported six-figure book deal whose novel came out in March to widespread attention.
Viswanathan, who was just 17 when she signed the deal, did not immediately return calls for comment Tuesday.
Meanwhile, The Record of Bergen County said Tuesday that it will review the news articles Viswanathan wrote for the 180,000-circulation daily paper in northern New Jersey while an intern in 2003 and 2004.
Editor Frank Scandale said The Record, which has written several of its own articles about the plagiarism allegations, will hire a service to vet the dozen or so light features she wrote while one of about 18 interns at the paper.
Little, Brown pulled “Opal Mehta” when extensive similarities were discovered to two earlier works by Megan McCafferty.
