Khouri also aroused suspicions because she spoke perfect American English despite claiming to have never lived in the United States.[2] Further, Khouri had promised to donate most of the proceeds to the Jordanian National Association for Women, but had only sent $100,[3] while the group was suspicious of her claims from the start, contending that it would have known about such a crime given Jordan's size. After conducting an investigation, it wrote to Random House Australia in September 2003, but Random House stood by Khouri.[2] In July 2004 — a year after the book's release — Sydney Morning Herald literary editor Malcolm Knox wrote a series of articles which exposed Khouri as a complete fraud: based on an 18-month investigation, he concluded Khouri had fabricated the story and sold it untruthfully as a memoir. Khouri had not lived in Jordan since 1973, but had lived in Chicago for most of her life, and was married with two children.