Forbidden Love - Book of Lies?

Books Forum

Book buyers may get refund

BOOK retailers and consumers may be able to get their money back if Norma Khouri's controversial bestseller Forbidden Love is found to be a hoax.

Her publisher Random House said today retailers would be credited the cost of the books if they chose to refund customers who had bought them.

"Random House Australia will credit (at the booksellers' purchase price) stock of Forbidden Love returned by booksellers," the Sydney-based publisher said.

"This includes any stock returned by a bookseller that the bookseller has elected to accept back from a customer."

Forbidden Love purports to be a memoir of the author's life growing up in Jordan and includes an account of a Muslim friend being murdered by her father in an "honour killing" after she fell in love with a Christian man.

Ms Khouri has claimed the story is true.

But at the weekend, a Sydney newspaper journalist Malcolm Knox said an 18-month investigation had revealed Jordanian-born Ms Khouri had spent most of her life in the United States, not in Jordan as she had claimed.

Forbidden Love was published two years ago in at least 15 countries and has sold more than 200,000 copies in Australia.

Ms Khouri, who lives in Queensland, has stood by her story and said in a statement at the weekend she was gathering documentation to prove she lived in Jordan and was the person she claimed to be.

She has made no comments publicly since then.

Doubts over Ms Khouri's story and the decision to withdraw the book, which is published in at least 15 countries, has made international headlines.

Random House has requested evidence from Ms Khouri that the book was a true representation of her life and experiences.

The publisher said if Ms Khouri was able to satisfy them about the authenticity of the story, consideration would be given to reissuing the book.

Ms Khouri lives in Australia on a temporary protection visa on account of the troubled past she says she has suffered.

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said the author was under investigation.

Queensland's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has set out rules for refunds if products were found to be different to the way they were advertised.

The OFT said on its website that consumers were entitled to refunds, exchanges or repairs if the goods they bought were faulty or did not match the description at the time of purchase.

If proven to be hoax, Forbidden Love would be classed as fiction instead of non-fiction or a biography.

AAP

Why didn't she just say it was fiction oin the first place? Or she could say "based on a true story", that is a very grey area in publishing. If she'd done that she wouldv'e gotten away with it.

Yeah, "based on a true story" is vague enough.

Khouri lost for words to explain book

Twelve days after the Herald's revelations that the author Norma Khouri fabricated her best-selling book Forbidden Love, her publisher Random House has lost track of her and is "increasingly concerned" at her silence.

Khouri has continually promised to provide "evidence" that she grew up in Jordan, as she wrote in her book, since the Herald produced documentation and interviews showing that she had grown up in Chicago.

Last week she set, through intermediaries, several deadlines by which she would come out with her evidence. Each deadline has passed, and she has not told Random House whether she is at her home on Bribie Island, elsewhere in Australia, or even, as has been reported, in the United States. It is understood the publisher has not spoken with her for nine days.

In a statement responding to the Herald's inquiries yesterday, the publisher said it was "increasingly concerned that ... Khouri had yet to produce evidence to refute allegations made about herself and her book, Forbidden Love".

Random House withdrew Forbidden Love from sale last Monday, but it still has a sequel by Khouri, A Matter of Honour, slated for publication in November.

"We had to give Norma time to respond to the allegations ... We are still within the timeframe set," said Random House's managing director, Margaret Seale.

"We are mindful of our responsibility to booksellers and readers who buy our books but we also have a responsibility to our authors ... In our discussions with Ms Khouri, her agent and her lawyers since the allegations were first raised by Sydney media we have impressed upon them the urgent need for Norma to respond to the allegations."

The timeframe is determined in part by the publishing timetable of the second book, in which Random House has a significant investment, including what industry sources estimate is a six-figure advance payment made to Khouri.

Random's control over the content of this book is greater than it was for Forbidden Love, which it received from Khouri's British publisher, Transworld UK. Ms Seale said Random House Australia was "the final link in a chain of established international publishers that agreed to publish the book, which originated in the US".

Ms Seale said Forbidden Love would not be returned to bookshops until Khouri had "conclusively refuted" the allegations. A decision on the second book could not be taken, she said, until "all issues relating to Forbidden Love are resolved".

whether Ms Khouri's book is factual or not, I believe it is somewhat customary for families to commit "Honor Killings" when some member (usually a female member) compromises their dignity in some way. I remember reading about a teenaged girl from Saudi Arabia being tried by her family (male members only)
and being found guilty and her punishment was drowning in the family swimming pool. Her sin.....she went to a man's hotel room and was found out.
America's not perfect but it's 1000 percent better than that.

She's finally come out and admitted it was fake. She now says some of it was true, but most of it is half-truths, things that happened to other people, not to her.

I don't really see why it matters, just move the book from the non-fiction section to the fiction section. It is still a compelling story whether it's true or not.

It gets the story out there and makes people aware that these atrocities are still being perpetrated in these countries. That is what we should be focusing on, not whether or not the book is 100% true.

Right you are, Schmiggins.

Rabbit proof fence was full of lies ,the film,yet it was suposed to be a true story ..

The goody goody two shoes never complained about it,yet this book is having problems.

Maybe the various " dark brigades " are pushing their barrow again by insinuating this does not happen.

I agree , just make it a story based on fact.

Stories about stuff which has happened in Australia is full of holes but people believe the crap.

Here's the full story: