[Music] Welcome to Between the Covers summer# series where the spotlight is on South Florida authors.

I'm Anne Bok and joining me is Patricia# Bonis, author of the new book Jed Bride.

It's a memoir that takes us inside of Saudi Arabia's# wealthiest families and asks these questions.

Would you sacrifice everything for your children# and how far would you go for love?

Patricia, welcome.

Oh, thank you so much, Ann.

I'm delighted# to be here on your We have to start at the very beginning.

So, so we get a bird's eye view here.# You're a co-ed at Welssley College.

You meet this man.

You are absolutely smitten.

But this is the# glittering world.

This is the richest of the rich.

who was he and you married him?

Yes.

Yes, I did.# I met him and we were both actually smitten by each other and it was a whirlwind romance and I# was I was looking for adventure.

I really was, I have to admit.

And this was perfect for me at# that time.

And we dated and we just were more and more and more in love.

And then eventually we did# get married and he took me back to his country.

His country is Saudi Arabia.

And when it comes# to women, this is one of the most repressive of societies.

So at what point you are?

How old# now?

I married him at 22.

I met him at 18.

When did you first realize that you could be in# over your head?

Well, I think when I stepped off the pl when I stepped off the plane in Jedha# and I saw that it was like a biblical town, I I felt like I'd gone back 2,000 years.

There# was dirt everywhere, people laying on the floor, looked like Benhur, like the movie Benhur, goats# running around, and no telephones.

Most people didn't.

That's when I realized that this was not# only conservative with the religion and the laws, but it was very primitive.

It was very primitive.# And you lose personal freedoms because you are a woman.

I know.

And now married to a very# wealthy Saudi.

I know.

And I learned very quickly also because I was rebellious.

I had a# strict family, but that was nothing compared to the the strictness of Saudi Arabia.

And what I# realized quickly was that if you break the laws, you'll end up in jail and you might end up dead# and nobody can help you.

So I I saw that happening to many people and I realized I can't play around# with this.

I can't be rebellious.

There's no good to that.

That is not an overstatement because# there is a scene in the book where you are out on a shopping spree, a shopping trip.

You see a# woman in the public square being stoned to death.

I know.

I heard the noise.

I heard screaming.# I look back and I see this lady and you could I couldn't see her face cuz she was all covered in# black.

And I watched as she was stoned to death.

It took about five minutes and then she was dead.# And nobody really I said, "What did she do?"

Oh, she committed adultery.

And all you need is three# witnesses.

They could be relatives or friends of the husband and that's it.

She gets stoned to# death.

I can't even imagine what that does to to a a young woman such as you from America watching# this.

But the worst part of this entire story is that your children were taken away from you.

Your# children were kidnapped.

That's right.

That's right.

And they weren't kidnapped from Saudi# Arabia.

They were kidnapped from Florida.

I was living in Wellington, Florida at the time with him# because he played polo and that was a big popular venue for polo and we I decided to get divorced.# He he was not a he was not a faithful husband and I just had enough of it.

I couldn't take it# anymore.

And he said to me, "Well, you know, I can have four wives," which I could I can't even# imagine a normal man of my generation saying that to a woman like me, but he did.

So, I had to# get a divorce and I filed for divorce and then he he took the children, threw them on a plane.# They were ages two and four, my son Kareem and my daughter Sultana and they were taken to Palm# Beach airport and I didn't see them for 14 years.

They were whisked away to Saudi Arabia and held# there.

And it wasn't because you didn't try to get them back.

You couldn't get them back.

I couldn't.# There was no way.

And there still is.

There really is no way to get children out of a country like# that.

They don't sign any treaties.

They don't, you know, respect any of our laws.

And that's# fine.

They have their own laws.

But if I had known that, I thought I'd be safe here.

But apparently,# I wasn't even safe here.

This was so there was so much of this that was heartbreaking for for me# to read.

In fact, you lost their childhood.

Yeah.

when I first saw my son, which I started the book.# I tried to be kind to my readers.

There was a lot of sadness.

So, I started the book on the day that# I drove up to my son's um apartment building.

He was a college student just starting out at Boston# University.

And I drove up there and I did see him.

And that's the first chapter of the book# because I wanted people to know before they read the rest that there is a good happy ending to this# story.

But it was shocking to me when I knocked on his door and he opened the door and there he was# 6 feet tall.

He'd been four years old when when he left and he looked I I wouldn't have recognized# him if I'd passed him in the street, you know, he was so handsome.

He but and I said he said,# "Who are you?"

And I said, "I'm your mother."

He had no idea that I was coming.

I couldn't# come.

I didn't know any.

And he almost fainted.

He he stepped back and I was so scared that he# would not like maybe he'd slam the door shut, but he didn't.

I said, "Please, please let me come# in and speak with you and he opened the door and let me in."

And then we started our relationship# over again.

But he was a grown man.

I'd lost the entire childhood.

And the same for my daughter# Sultana.

The book ends with a scene that is a family gathering and it's very positive, very# welcoming and out of all after I'd read this book I thought okay now I can breathe a little bit.

Is# this you at your core?

This hopefulness is that what got you through these 14 difficult years?# Yes, it is.

It is.

I'm I'm I'm a very optimistic person and I I don't know.

I always felt that it# was my fault that this happened because I made these decisions for myself.

I was very reckless# and so I took a lot of the blame on myself and I felt that my children got the bad end of this.# You know, they were stolen from their mother.

They were raised without a mother.

They never were# told what happened or why this happened.

So, I can only imagine what their thoughts were at the# growing up.

And so when I got this opportunity to have dinner with the family and to ha, you know,# to be polite and nice and almost meek and humble and accepting, I did it because I wanted my# children I didn't want them to be torn apart.

I didn't want them to feel that my mother hates# my grandfather and my grandfather hates my mother and who do I love and how do I love both?

I just# I just want to bury the hatchet and go forward and I and it's we have a happy life.

It's that's# a true mother's love.

Yes, it is.

It it is.

And I don't know where I just came.

It was me.

That's# what happens.

You don't tear your children apart.

You are both in addition to being an author# now you're both a successful designer and an accomplished competitive equestrian.

So, how did# having those passions support you emotionally through everything else?

It really did support# me emotionally.

It did.

Working.

I plunged myself into work.

It was almost like when the children# were kidnapped, I took I took a look at my life and I said, "Whoa, I've I've really gone way# off the deep end.

Look what I did to myself.

Look what I did to them.

I've got to buckle down# and I better work and I better, you know, and I worked very very very hard on my career and I I# was actually the opposite of what I was when, you know, I was like living the high life and flitting# and fluttering from one country to another and I just buckled down and I worked very hard and I# created a very successful business for myself and I kept thinking when my children I believed I# would see them again.

I wasn't sure when.

It took 14 years, but I was hoping it would be a year or# two or three, but it wasn't.

But I always thought when they see me for the first time, I want to# show them something they'll be proud of and that they'll be comfortable with.

And I felt that# because they were riders, they'd see me riding, they'd understand.

There's bonds that we have that# maybe they didn't feel yet.

They didn't weren't taught them.

So I felt that all those things that# I did over the 14 years were going to contribute to myself being acceptable and have a successful# relationship with them.

Patricia, looking back, what would you tell your younger self?

Oh my# gosh, I wish I had the chance to do that.

But you don't get second chances in life, do you?# I would have told myself, you gotta snap out of this.

This is too crazy.

This is really insane.# You better not.

If you have to be with this guy, if you have to marry him, don't have children.

And# then you think, well, my two beautiful children wouldn't have been born.

So, I don't even I don't# know.

I I think maybe it was meant to be.

Maybe I had to do it.

I don't know.

The book is Jeda# Bride.

Patricia Bonis, thank you so much for joining me.

Oh, thank you, Ann.

I'm so delighted# and thank you for showing interest in my book.

I I I believe it's a story that people should# hear.

I think it's an important story and thank you for bringing it to your show.

I'm Anne Bok.# Please join me on the next Between the Covers.