Penguin Random House Canada said it will “reflect” on its procedures after a subject of Leah McLaren’s memoir, who alleges she was sexually assaulted, says the writer mischaracterized the sexual encounter as consensual.
Zoe Greenberg, a poet and longtime acquaintance of McLaren, a journalist, wrote in a blog post that after she saw a drafted portion of “Where You End and I Begin,” she informed the publishing house McLaren’s portrayal of the incident was inaccurate.
Greenberg alleged in the post that an unnamed male classmate and McLaren sexually assaulted her at a pool party in high school — an allegation McLaren denies.
“I managed to communicate to this powerful corporate publisher that I was living with the trauma of being sexually assaulted by one of their authors, and they published her claim that I welcomed her and the boy’s sexual aggression,” Greenberg wrote.
“The scar has been ripped open, as I live with the feeling that every time someone reads the passage where my rape is made to seem like I wanted it, they believe that I did.”
Greenberg wrote that Penguin Random House Canada ceased communication with her after she provided evidence that McLaren knew of her objections to the depiction.
Greenberg did not respond to a request for comment from The Canadian Press.
In separate statements, the publishing house and McLaren both said she and her editors revised the portion of the book that contains the alleged assault, taking Greenberg’s position into account.
In its opening scene, the book describes a pool party in which McLaren, then 13 or 14, and Greenberg, whom she did not name, took LSD and engaged in a sexual encounter with one of their male classmates.
McLaren writes in the book she and a friend, “Joni,” conspired to trick a classmate into thinking they would have a threesome with him before backing out.
But after the encounter began, McLaren wrote, “The plan has changed; what’s not clear is why or how.”
In the book, McLaren describes Joni crying after the act.
Greenberg alleged in the Medium blog post that a boy sexually assaulted her at a pool party the summer she turned 16, and she alleged McLaren joined in.
McLaren denied the allegation in her statement.
“I did not, as an adolescent child, assault my older 16-year-old best friend at a pool party. Nor did I assist in her assault,” McLaren said.
She also said she stands by what she wrote.
“When Zoe raised concerns about the draft pages of my memoir I’d sent for her to review, I took the matter seriously. Over a series of emails, calls and Zoom meetings, Zoe talked to me about her concerns. I considered all of them. Based on these conversations, my editors and I made amendments that we felt were appropriate,” McLaren said.
A statement from Penguin Random House Canada, meanwhile, said the publishing house told Greenberg’s lawyer at the time that the portion of “Where You End and I Begin” would be changed.
“During the editorial process, substantial changes were made to the passages by Leah McLaren in response to Zoe Charlotte Greenberg’s requests,” the statement reads.
“We are saddened to learn that, for Zoe Charlotte Greenberg, these changes did not adequately address her concerns. We will use this moment to reflect on our own internal processes and identify ways in which we can best serve our books, our authors, our communities, and our readers.”
The company didn’t identify those processes.
This is not the first time a subject of “Where You End and I Begin” has raised concerns about their portrayal in the book, which centres on McLaren’s relationship with her mother, and how her mother’s rape as a young girl shaped it.
A central thesis of the memoir is that McLaren’s mother’s trauma is also her own.
But McLaren’s mother, the writer Cecily Ross, wrote in a 2020 Literary Review of Canada article that she asked her daughter not to write about the sexual assault.
“I feel my daughters’ pain as though it is my own,” Ross wrote. “And I understand the ruthlessness it takes to be a writer. Leah has every right to tell her story. But I will say this as directly and vigorously as I can: this story, this one, is mine.”
In an article in the Toronto Star, McLaren said her memoir includes her mother’s story because it informed who McLaren became.
“It’s not an attempt to steal her material but a wholehearted investigation into how our stories became so enmeshed in the first place and, ultimately, an effort to unpick this tangled emotional knot,” she wrote.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2022.
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