Norma Khouri is the pen name of author Norma Bagain Toliopoulos (born Norma Bagain in Jordan in 1970). She is the author of the book titled Honor Lost in America, and Forbidden Love in Australia and the Commonwealth, released by Random House in 2003..

Her best-selling book, which purported to described the honor killing

Honor killing

An honor killing or honour killing is the homicide of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family or community...

 of her best friend, was exposed as a literary hoax the next year.

Early life

Khouri was born in Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

 in 1970, and in 1973 she moved to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 with her parents. She attended a Catholic school in South Chicago. In 1993 she married John Toliopoulos, the father of her two children, Zoe and Christopher. Circa 2001, Khouri, Toliopoulos and their children moved to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, from where she published a supposedly non-fiction account of the honour killing of her best friend in Jordan. After the revelation of her literary hoax made headline news, she moved back to the United States. She is the subject of the acclaimed 2007 film Forbidden Lie$

Forbidden Lie$

Forbidden Lie$ is an Australian documentary released in September 2007. It was directed by Anna Broinowski.-Synopsis:Forbidden Lie$ tells the story of Norma Khouri, author of the book Forbidden Love, purportedly the true story of "Dalia", a young Muslim woman in Jordan murdered by her family in an...

.

Forbidden Love hoax

On July 24, 2004 Malcolm Knox, literary editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, revealed that Khouri was not in fact living in Jordan during 1993-1995 (the timeframe of Forbidden Love), but was living in Chicago with her husband, John Toliopoulos, and her two children. She had not lived in Jordan since her early childhood, except for a three week stay during which she apparently researched the background for her book. Knox further revealed accusations that Khouri had left the United States while being investigated for the fraud of an elderly neighbor.

Things were further complicated for Random House Australia because Khouri was sponsored under the category of nomination for distinguished talent in 2002. On July 28, 2004 the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs said that Khouri was cleared of violating her visa stay regulations. However, Khouri had already left the country of her own accord.

Khouri has said she will co-operate with all requests to provide documentation and was said to be preparing to publish her next book A Matter of Honour in November 2004, again by Random House.

However, on August 18, 2004, Khouri spoke publicly and admitted that she took "literary licence" with the book, claiming that she did not receive any payment or royalties for the book.

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