Dr. Hanna Saadah's New Novel Centers on Emotion of Oklahoma City Bombing

20% of all revenue goes to charity

Book Review - Oklahoma City author and poet Dr. Hanna Saadah is giving 20% of all revenue from sales of his new novel The Mighty Weight of Love to the charities by The Oklahoma City Community Foundation.

Known for his collections of poetry such as Four & a Half Billion Years, Loves and Lamentations Of A Life Watcher and Familiar Faces, Dr. Saadah has dedicated his publishing company, Almualif Publishing, to the aid of new authors as well as charity. The company's stated mission is to "help unique authors custom publish their works." And in that process, Dr. Saadah has now dedicated 20% of all Almualif book sales revenue to charity.

The Mighty Weight of Love is his first novel, an emotional story of two families forever changed by the Oklahoma City bombing of April 19, 1995. A truly stirring novel about the depth of human love, the story follows Salem Hawi, a physician who left Lebanon for Oklahoma City very early in his life. Caring and dedicated to his patients, Salem is raising his three sons alone after his wife passed away from breast cancer. A man of imagination and wisdom, Salem delights in his poetry and his observations of humanity.

"He would preach to his young medical students that they should relish their hungers and never take them for granted. Indeed, he advised them to always stop before they were fully satisfied so that they wouldn't deplete their passions to the point that life became dull."

When his relationship with his next door neighbor, Martha Fields, grows to be more than friendship, Salem's formerly peaceful existence is changed. He is forced to examine his "blind spots," the personal qualities that one just can't quite see, and he finds a kind of love for Martha of which he didn't know he was capable.

Despite all of the difficulties the two face, one horrific day would mark their lives. An historic explosion interrupts time on a bright April morning, and human spirit becomes the salvation.

Dr. Saadah's novel is intimate and profound, but it is so much more than that. Salem Hawi is the purity in all of us with the words to define all that wrestles our souls. By the novel's conclusion, the reader feels as if he has been given the ability to comprehend that which is incomprehensible. It is a beautiful and enlightening gift, one that takes a place in your mind and the whole of your heart.

Former Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys admitted the novel brought tears to his eyes, and Oklahoman columnist Charlotte Lankard notes that the character of Salem Hawi has a purity of heart that "will challenge any reader to 'go and do likewise'".

For all Oklahomans who recall April 19, 1995, this novel is a must read. It is the kind of poetic romance that gives us pause to recognize the power of our love.

The Mighty Weight of Love, and all of Dr. Saadah's works, can be purchased online. And 20% of all revenue goes to charity.