A few years later, my husband, Danny Pearl, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped and brutally murdered by religious extremists in Pakistan . I was five months pregnant with our son. Danny's killers claimed that he was a spy working for the CIA and Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, and that because he was a Jew and an America , he deserved death. In reality, Danny was a true citizen of the world who spoke several languages, even some Arabic; he was full of life, smart as hell and funny, too. I adored him. When he died, everything I learned from my parents' lives and deaths came back to me—the politics, the cynicism, my mother's fundamental belief in human nature, the justice, the pride, the dignity. It all came back. And I knew too well the one thing that could defeat me and, my extension, my husband's memory and our son: helplessness. I decided that if those who killed my husband were determined to show the gruesome side of humanity, I would display its integrity, beauty and resilience. That would be my true revenge.
Λίγους μήνες μετά την επίθεση της 11ης Σεπτεμβρίου, οι δημοσιογράφοι Ντάνιελ (της Wall Street Journal) και Μαριάν Περλ βρίσκονται στο Καράτσι του Πακιστάν ως ανταποκριτές για τις εφημερίδες τους. Είναι παντρεμένοι και η Μαριάν βρίσκεται στον 5ο μήνα της εγκυμοσύνης της.