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. Following graduation, her work on projects in the Middle East gave her a profound understanding both of the links between the environment and social problems, and also of the tumultuous history of the Arab nations. Then, in 1974, her life took a very different turn, when her father introduced her to the world's most eligible bachelor, King Hussein of Jordan. After a whirlwind romance, she became Noor Al Hussein, Queen of Jordan. 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. Leap of Faith is refreshingly candid and clear-eyed, a true love story set against the turbulent politics of the last thirty years.