https://youtu.be/5YJqG8dqlUU

Previously..

Selena was even more intrigued by the concepts found in the novel when she found out about the 1921 film adaptation of the novel, and then got the double feature DVD of the film The Sheik and its 1926 sequel The Son of the Sheik, which both starred the late, great Rudolph 'Rudy' Valentino as Ahmed Ben Hassan, the titular Sheik.

Selena still recalled the rush of excitement and intriguement that rushed through her blood when the Sheik first came on the screen of her laptop, and how she sucked in her breath. Now I can see why he was said to be known as the "Latin Lover" and a sex symbol back in his day when he was alive.

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Well I'm the sheik of Araby
Your love belongs to me
Well at night where you're asleep
Into your tent I'll creep
Aha

The stars that shine above
Will light our way to love
Ah you rule this world with me
I'm the sheik of Araby
~The Beatles, The Sheik of Araby

Pulling herself back to the present, Selena took a deep breath, gently grasped the spine of The Sheik and pulled it off the shelf before finding a table and then sitting down. Intrigued by the title, she opened the book and began to read.

Selena soon found herself fascinated by Lady Diana Mayo and her desire to do what she wanted, regardless of what society expected her to do, as well as the risks from back then.

Diana's upbringing was painted as unconventional at best; her mother had died after giving birth to her, and her father had killed himself out of grief for his wife (as Lord and Lady Mayo, from what others had heard through grapevine gossip, were said to still love each other even after twenty years of marriage).

So Diana's older brother Sir Aubrey, who was said to be the epitome of selfishness, initially left the servants in their family to raise his little sister, but then came back after some time, having decided to raise her as a boy instead of a girl because he'd wanted a brother instead of a sister (although there were certain things women were told they couldn't do back then).

Basically, from E.M. Hull's perspective, Ahmed Ben Hassan wasn't the novel's villain; instead, Diana's upbringing was to blame for her initially being cold and unfeminine with the values instilled into her because of Aubrey teaching her the kinds of things only boys could learn back then, as well as her subsequent freewheeling adult life.

Selena felt a jolt of excitement run up and down her spine as she read of how Diana argued with Aubrey over her decision to go into the desert for a month-long tour, which Selena felt showed Diana's feisty side. Her eyes widened in surprise when she read of Diana's eventually being abducted by the titular Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan and then brought to his tent.