"I had found myself spellbound," writes Noor, "by the serene expanse of desert landscape washed golden by the retreating sun at dusk. The love affair with Hussein developed into a love affair with his desert kingdom.Īs well as being an intimate portrait of a marriage, Leap of Faith reflects a deep commitment to the people, culture, and natural beauty of Jordan. She also converted to Islam and began in earnest to learn Arabic.
Having accepted the royal proposition of marriage, Lisa Halaby changed her name to Noor Al Hussein, the "Light of Hussein". Though she was not as drawn to the Swedish group Abba as he was, she was charmed when he would croon "Take a chance on me".
But the king was an assiduous suitor and would even sing to her. "I will not deny that the idea of being his fourth wife, or anybody's fourth wife, was troubling to me," she writes. The king was a widower with eight children from three marriages and a reputation as a playboy. For the young, independent-minded American woman, the courtship,over long evenings in the palace, involved some doubts. For Hussein it was evidently love at first sight. Leap of Faith is the story of her remarkable journey into Hussein's heart and their 21 years of marriage, ending with the king's death in 1999. Lisa joined the first freshman class at Princeton to accept women, graduating in 1974 with a degree in architecture and urban planning. One of the positive results of growing up in this "moderately dysfunctional American family" was self-reliance.
Part of this social awkwardness, she confesses, is rooted in her relationship with her father. The father's relentless perfectionism could not be reconciled with the mother's quest for family peace and the marriage was dissolved.Īs a child Lisa was earnest and introverted, a loner by temperament, and she was to remain impatient with small-talk and gossip. Her father, Najeeb Halaby, was a successful businessman and public servant but a demanding and difficult individual. Halaby was born into a prominent Arab-American family.
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