I’m so hoping you can help me.
My friend would love to find this beloved book.  She read it in 1978 while living in a kibbutz in Israel, and believes it may be  a book by either a U.S. or English/UK author. She believes this because there were women from the UK who brought books to Israel for the children/young people in the kibbutz to enjoy.

The plot is as follows:  a college-aged girl becomes ill and is hospitalized for a long time.  A hospital employee (might be a doctor, nurse, orderly, or someone else) tries to cheer up the hospitalized patients.  It then turns out that this person is stealing jewelry from the patients.  
Further details include the college student describing a man who cat-calls her, as a “wolf,” and the girl likes horses.