A Gate to Paradise

About the Book

Little Sara couldn’t understand death on that hot day, but since then she was scattered in the coldness of desolation and rarely afterward did her heart feel any warmth. A Gate to Paradise picks up Sara’s story twenty years after the death of her mother as she prepares to enter into an arranged marriage.

This memoir follows Sara and her thoughts and dreams as she is stuck in a web of complex relationships in her home of Damascus, Syria. She lives in a continuous conflict between madness, pain, and tenderness. An educated woman in the medical field, she tells her story against the backdrop of her mother’s death and how her own surrender to motherhood led her to the front door of paradise.

A Gate to Paradise provides insight into the Arab world and its customs through Sara’s eyes. The traditions of the Middle Eastern community come to light as one woman comes to terms with her own life and her role in the world.

Praise for A Gate to Paradise

“How wonderful that woman have turned her weaknesses into strengths.”
—Dr. Talal aJlane, Member of the Order of Pharmacists

“These novel Remembers me of lily which grows up from the edges of rocks … Sara like it”
—Dr Sallama alcharara, Dietitian

“It has touched on my feelings more than once.”
—Dr Sadaa husunu

About the Author

Suzan Fakhani earned a pharmacy degree from the University of Damascus in 1992 and now manages her own pharmacy. Fakhani lives in Damascus, Syria, with her husband, three children, and a cat. She has previously published poetry at the university and in local newspapers. This is her first book.