A Leap of Faith : Memoir of an Unexpected Life

Born into a distinguished Arab-American family and raised amid privilege, Lisa Halaby was in the first co-educational freshman class at Princeton, graduating in 1974 with a degree in architecture and urban planning. Then, in 1976, she was introduced, on an airport runway, to King Hussein of Jordan, a direct descendent of the prophet Muhammed. In less than two years, she was his wife, Noor al-Hussein, Queen of Jordan.

With eloquence and candour, Noor talks frankly of the many challenges of her life as wife and partner to the monarch, providing both an intimate portrait of the late King Hussein and his quest for peace in the Middle East, and a moving account of the demands his public role as a world statesman placed on the royal couple's private life. Sharing a personal perspective on the past three decades of world history, Leap of Faith highlights Queen Noor's views on Islam and the West; the challenges of rearing her family; her work as Queen and humanitarian activist; and her struggles to protect her husband as he slipped into the illness that would kill him in 1999. Her story is filled with recollections of the world's most powerful and interesting people: Queen Elisabeth, Jimmy Carter, Pierre Trudeau, Yassar Arafat and Anwar Sadat. In the wake of September 11, Noor reflects on the true message of Islam and the ongoing violence in the Middle East from her unique perspective with a deep and abiding understanding of Arab aspirations and history.

Leap of Faith is refreshingly candid and clear-eyed, a true love story set against the turbulent politics of the last thirty years.