Famous Literary Hoaxes

"Angel at the Fence," Holocaust survivor Herman Rosenblat's memoir, was touted by talk show host Oprah Winfrey as "the single greatest love story in 22 years of doing this show." But last week Berkley Books, an imprint of the Penguin Group, announced it was canceling the February 2009 publication of the book after Rosenblat admitted that his account of meeting his wife, Roma, in a concentration camp during World War II had been fabricated. The couple actually met on a blind date in New York after the war. Accusations of falsity by scholars and relatives started building in the months after Rosenblat appeared twice on "Oprah" to promote the book. "I wanted to bring happiness to people," Rosenblat said later in a statement. (amazon.com)