Kaavya?s book withdrawn

AFTER A raging storm over plagiarism, the publisher of Kaavya Viswanathan's debut novel has given in and ordered withdrawal of the book from store shelves across the US.

The action of Little, Brown and Co. came in the face of legal arm-twisting by rival publishing house, Crown, which had published Megan McCafferty's two books from which Viswanathan had "unconsciously" lifted numerous passages.

Little, Brown said on Thursday that the Harvard sophomore had agreed to the decision to pull the book, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life, for which she had signed a $500,000 deal. The company statement asked stores to stop selling the books and return all unsold copies.

Crown welcomed the decision. McCafferty, too, issued a statement, saying: "In the case of Kaavya Viswanathan's plagiarising my novels Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, I wish to inform all of the parties involved that I'm not seeking restitution in any form."