The book was launched with a lot of publicity because of the author's age.[4][5][6] The author initially stated that she secretly wrote the book between mid-October 2005 and mid-June 2006 and corresponded with a friend.[3]
On March 13, 2007 the French-language newspaper La Presse published an article noting a list of similarities between Laura l'immortelle and the film Highlander;[5]La Presse editor Nathaëlle Morissette discovered that the novel had similarities to the film,[7] with one editor saying that the similarities were "a little troubling."[4]
A Frenchman named Frédéric Jeorge received a copy of the book, and he found that almost all of the book was a copy of "Des cendres et du vent," a Highlanderfan fiction written by Jeorge that was available on the Internet around late 2001.[8] After being confronted, Côté admitted that she plagiarized the fan fiction, and presented it as an original work.[9][10]
Jeorge received $4,500 as compensation from the publisher, and Michel Brûlé, the owner of the publishing company responsible for the publication of the book, said that Côté's parents also had to pay $24,469.32 as compensation to the publisher. Laura l'immortelle had about 5,000 copies printed.[10][11]
^ ab(in English) Charlebois, Gaetan L. (Freelance) "Artists split on election: France, Quebec split on the thong thing." The Gazette (Montreal). Sunday March 18, 2007. Final Edition. Arts & Life, Chaud Show, A22. Available on LexisNexis.
^ ab(in French) "Plagiat aux Intouchables." Canadian Broadcasting Corporation at Radio-Canada.ca. March 22, 2007. Retrieved on November 13, 2010. "Il s'est engagé à verser à Frédéric Jeorge toutes les recettes du livre. Il veut aussi que les parents de Marie-Pier Côté lui remboursent les 24 469,32 $ de frais de production du roman, tiré à 5000 exemplaires."
