"He's a writer, you know, they don't tell everything that's factual and true..."

When Oprah Winfrey chose James Frey's book A Million Little Pieces for her book club in 2005, she had no idea the kind of monster she was about to endorse. This episode of As Long As It Isn't True investigates how large portions of A Million Little Pieces, which was originally marketed as a memoir, turned out to be wholly fabricated and completely false — and how Oprah held those responsible for it accountable live on her talk show.

Theme music is credited to Wendy Marcini, Elvin Vanguard, and Jules Gaia.

Instagram: @literaryscandals

Selected bibliography:

• "A Million Little Lies," The Smoking Gun

• "Picking Up the Pieces: How James Frey flunked rehab, and why his fakery matters," Slate

• "How Oprahness Trumped Truthiness," The New York Times