Publisher's Synopsis
In the 1970s, authors Patricia Clark Taylor and Shelvy Snead were neighbors in a Maryland community on the Magothy River. For an entire decade, beginning in 1973, Patricia traveled with her engineer husband to Rome, Riyadh, and later to Israel. These were the years of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, the 1973 Arab Israeli War, the massive build up of Saudi Arabia, and a stronger American-Saudi alliance. These were also the years of peace plans initiated by Egypt's President Sadat followed by Israel's return of the Sinai to Egypt. With the murder of President Sadat, the Middle East fell more and more into chaos and Saudi became more and more powerful. During Patricia's return trips to Maryland, she related her stories of these dynamic years to neighbor Shelvy who encouraged her to organize her photos, notes, and many adventures and write them for others to read. Now, decades later, Patricia and Shelvy create a memorable screenplay epic story. "The Script Unveiled," a work of fiction, surrounds true, historic events as it follows the life of Catherine Turner, an American artist, who travels with her engineer husband and two sons. During these amazing years, the world changed drastically and Catherine's life changed with it when she leaves her western world and enters a much different world filled with explosive, ever changing events. In this story of love and loss and of never losing hope, Catherine journeys into a strange land and conquers her fear of living alone behind high walls in a harsh desert environment within a culture that denigrates women. It's only when she begins to live in this environment that she discovers the beauty of the desert and comes to know amazing individuals who strive for a better life. She also comes to know a brutal desert culture deeply mired in an ancient law that allows for no deviation from strict rules. Throughout the decade, Catherine matures from a young woman in her twenties to a more sophisticated global citizen focused on human rights. Finally, through life and death events, Catherine finds love with the man who saves her as she begins life anew. In the 1970s when Catherine enters Riyadh (or falls into the rabbit hole, so to speak) she's tries to make sense of it all. She's like Alice in Wonderland in an upside down world. At that time, there was little information about the Sunni Wahhabi desert culture; Catherine is left to climb out of the rabbit hole on her own. She's challenged to overcome her shock and horror and realize the value of this experience for her own life. The authors, writing in screenplay format, were forced to strip away anything that hindered the flow of the story to its final destination. The challenge was to weave two stories into one. In other words, they had to weave historic events into a story of individuals so that the two become one. As they did so, Catherine came to represent the need to break from the past and move forward. Sam represents her past that must be forgiven and overcome. Hassa represents a determined universal march toward women's rights. Hassa's brother Hassan represents those willing to die to free others. Dr. Kaplan represents rebirth and new life. The authors, aware that a screenplay is the backbone of a movie, aimed for a work that is succinct, sharp, clear, and concise. The screenplay format (altered a bit for this book) includes abbreviations such as EXT. (exterior scene), INT. (interior scene), or V.O. for voiceover. Each scene heading gives a general location and indicates a day or night scene.
