The Wisconsin Book Festival, in partnership with the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project presents Patricia Holt to discuss her book, Committee of One.
When Patricia Holt married a retired hydrologist, she had no idea how our travels to the Middle East would change her perspective. Initially interested in the fine crafts of the area, Holt was led to Leila Wahbeh. Wabneh''s story unfolds with her family’s flight from Jerusalem to Egypt in 1947 to avoid the terrors of the war with Israel, and their return four years later to find they had lost everything. Despite suffering terrible hardships and deprivations, Leila finishes school and marries a doctor. All goes well until the 1967 War. Her husband, because he renders aid to war victims, is deported, leaving Leila and their four children in Jerusalem as pawns for his good behavior and hers. Despite the probability of her own imprisonment, with circumstances weighed against her, she continues her crusade for the poor.