Little, Brown & Co, which published 19-year-old Harvard student Kaavya Viswanathan’s book How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life, has announced the withdrawal of all copies of the books after the young writer admitted that she had ‘unintentionally’ copied material from writer Megan McCafferty’s Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings.

In a statement, Little, Brown & Co’s Michael Pietsch said that stores that return copies of the books would be fully refunded. Around 100,000 copies of the book have been printed, with about 50,000 having been distributed to the stores already. Earlier, the publishing house had refused to withdraw the book when accusations of plagiarism appeared on The Harvard Crimson Web site. However, Little, Brown later decided to pull the book off the shelves. “Little, Brown today sent a notice to retail and wholesale accounts asking them to stop selling copies of the book and to return unsold inventory to the publisher for full credit,�? Pietsch said.
On Wednesday, Viswanathan, who was reportedly paid about US$500,000 for the book, admitted on a TV program that she had ‘unconsciously’ lifted several passages from McCafferty’s books, which she read voraciously. “When I sat down to write my novel, my only intention was to tell the story of Opal. I was so surprised and horrified when I found these similarities. All I really want to do is apologize to Ms McCafferty. I don’t want her to think I intended to cause her distress, because I admire her so much. As I was writing, I genuinely believed that every single word I was writing was my own,�? she said on the show, adding, “I must have just internalized her words. I never, ever intended to deliberately take any of her words.�? The book was on number 68 on the Amazon list of reads.

Though the book, which revolves around the story of an India-born girl whose rich parents are obsessed with getting her into Harvard, was liked by some critics and rejected by the others, Viswanathan received accolades for her writing skills at such a young age. A sequel to the book was also signed on for a movie by DreamWorks. What happens to those deals and the amount paid to Viswanathan is not clear.

On her part, Megan McCafferty asserted that she wanted no ‘restitution’ for the unfortunate event. “I am not seeking restitution in any form. The past few weeks have been very difficult, and I am most grateful to my readers for offering continual support. I look forward to getting back to work and moving on and hope Ms Viswanathan can too,�? she said in a statement. McCafferty new book Charmed Thirds is on the number 19 position on The New York Times bestseller list. Her publisher Crown Publishers said, “We are pleased that this matter has been resolved in an appropriate and timely fashion. We are extremely proud of our author, Megan McCafferty, and her grace under pressure throughout this ordeal.�? As many as 40 plus passages in How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life are copied, The Harvard Crimson report found. It is not clear if the book will be republished after the passages are corrected.

The rights of the book are owned by Viswanathan and Alloy Entertainment, which said it had helped the Harvard student with the conceptualization of the book. Alloy got into the picture after Viswanathan managed an admission to Harvard at the age of 16 and showed her writings to education adviser Katherine Cohen, who subsequently put her through to Alloy Entertainment.