Leap of Faith (Queen Noor)
An American woman marries the King of Jordan in the Diana-Charles-style romance of the Arab world. She converts to Islam, aims for peace in the Middle East, starts many charitable organizations, throws herself into her adopted country and pops out quite a few children along the way. She sees peace effort after peace effort fall apart, innocent civilians die at war and homelands stolen. In the end, she must witness her husband’s surrender to cancer.
It’s a great biography that gave me a lot of insight about the country of Jordan and their unique role and perspective in the region, and it also fleshed out and humanized the role of women in politics in the Middle East. While I wouldn’t say Queen Noor (Noor meaning light in Arabic) is a hero of mine or any such thing, I would say her life story is a valuable addition to my view of the world and the people who inhabit it. Oh, and she’s really purdy, too, especially for a woman that’s my mother’s age.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - Vacation reading
Biography, Non-Fiction |