How author built life-long ties with an Emirati family

Patricia Morris wrote Mother Without a Mask under her maiden name Holton. First published in 1991, it records the early part of her special relationship with an Emirati family, that remains anonymous in her writing — a family that she visited for the last time in 2010, when she stayed with them in Abu Dhabi.

It all started when her husband Claud decided to showcase a better understanding of the Arab world by publishing Middle East Magazine and then Voice of the Arab World. Patricia travelled with him to the Gulf.

While her husband was busy interacting with the members of the emerging UAE Government, Patricia met and became close friends with, among others, an Emirati family that was also interested in developing an understanding of the West. The teenage sons of the family came to spend several summers at the Morris home in London in the late 1970s, learning English customs and the language as well.

Patricia was invited to spend time with the family, living with them in Al Ain, attending family weddings and other occasions as well as interacting with the women members of the family and learning in detail about the intricacies of Emirati culture and customs and the way of life.

She was fascinated by the culture of the Arab world — and alongside my father, believed fervently in the importance of understanding between cultures and people. They both worked for that throughout their lives.” Ann Morris | Patricia’s daughter

close friend. “A real Hollywood romance,” is how Ann describes the love that blossomed between Patricia and Claud.

A real Hollywood romance

“After the [friend’s] wedding, she met my father by chance in London and they fell in love. In December that year he travelled to New York and asked her to marry him. They were married on January 22, 1949, and she came to live in England permanently — first in London, then in Wales, where they set up their own publishing business, and then back to London,” she said.

“My father wrote probably the only authorised biography of Shaikh Zayed, interviewing him on several occasions,” Ann added.

Patricia’s last two trips to the UAE were in 2002 and 2010 when she spoke at two different conferences about Shaikh Zayed.

Patricia Morris, an American, with her British husband Claud, who wrote The Desert Falcon, ■ a biography of Shaikh Zayed. They were married on January 22, 1949, and lived in England.