00:00 This is the most talked about self-published book
00:02 since the original version of Harry Potter,
00:04 where you know, Hagrid had HPV.
00:06 - I shouldn't have said that.
00:08 I should not have said that.
00:10 - Scottish author Louise Linton self-published
00:13 a memoir in April that was called
00:14 In Congo's Shadow, One Girl's Perilous Journey
00:16 to the Heart of Africa.
00:18 And on July the 1st, The Daily Telegraph
00:20 published an article by Linton that was called
00:22 How My Dream Gap Year in Africa Turned Into a Nightmare.
00:26 And here's a little excerpt.
00:27 I had come to Africa with hopes of helping
00:29 some of the world's poorest people,
00:31 but my gap year had become a living nightmare
00:33 when inadvertently found myself caught up
00:35 in the fringes of the Congolese War.
00:37 People online are furious with Linton
00:39 for promoting a white savior narrative
00:41 and for purportedly fabricating many details of her account.
00:45 The book is filled with one star reviews on Amazon.
00:48 Check this one out from Mimi Lungu.
00:50 Riddled with so many inaccuracies,
00:52 geographical mistakes, and self-promoting accounts,
00:54 this is nothing but several movie plots
00:57 interspaced with the delusions of a savior complex
00:59 and then I read the author is an actress
01:01 and director in Hollywood and it all made sense.
01:04 Cabulunga disputes her claim that Zambian roadblocks
01:07 are guarded by child soldiers with machetes.
01:09 So he writes, "I decided to buy the book
01:11 "and realized it has been written by a deluded,
01:13 "naive girl from a privileged background
01:15 "who has embellished a short stay in Africa
01:18 "and has felt to make her story fit
01:20 "a stereotyped idea the West has of Africa."
01:23 Linton also details hiding in a straw hut
01:25 from the Congolese rebels and fleeing into the jungle.
01:28 Jay Niendwa writes, "My stepmother has just turned 60,
01:32 "is a Mzungu who lives in Zambia from age 18
01:34 "and has never heard of your rebels.
01:37 "Hashtag Linton lies."
01:39 Linton has got to type in and reply
01:40 to all her critics on Twitter.
01:42 "I am genuinely dismayed and very sorry
01:44 "to see that I have offended people
01:46 "as this was the very opposite of my intent.
01:48 "I wrote with the hope of conveying my deep humility,
01:51 "respect, and appreciation for the people of Zambia
01:54 "as an 18-year-old in 1999."
01:57 For more trends like these, head over to whatstrending.com.
