An Interview with Mike H. Mizrahi: Author of The Weight of Loyalty, Winner of the 2025 SPR Book Awards

Mike H. Mizrahi is an award-winning author whose fiction explores themes of loyalty, sacrifice, faith, and redemption. His novels and novellas span historical and contemporary settings, often focusing on ordinary people facing extraordinary moral choices. He loves rescue stories and American history. In addition to fiction, Mizrahi writes articles on history, culture, and faith, and has served for many years in church leadership and teaching roles. He lives in Washington State with his wife, Karen.

Tell us about your book.

“Loyalty”…a strong feeling of support or allegiance. It’s a word we all think we understand until it’s tested.

The Weight of Loyalty is set in 1941 during the Second World War. After his submarine is sunk in the Ionian Sea, an injured British sailor escapes to the shores of a Greek island under Italian occupation. Hidden by local villagers and aided by the resistance, he begins plotting his return to the Allied war effort. But the longer he remains on the island, the more complicated his mission becomes.

As he falls in love with a local woman, he is forced to confront difficult questions about duty, sacrifice, and the true meaning of loyalty. Is loyalty owed first to country, to loved ones, or to one’s own conscience?

At its heart, The Weight of Loyalty is a story about survival, love, and the cost of human choices during war. In a world shaped by fear and conflicting beliefs, right and wrong are not always clear.

While rooted in the historical realities of wartime Kefalonia, the novel asks timeless questions: What do we do when loyalty demands a sacrifice we’re not sure we can make? And how do moments of crisis reveal who we truly are?

Why did you want to write a book?

I stumbled upon the remarkable true story of British submariner John Capes. He was the sole survivor after his submarine struck a mine and sank off the coast of Greece during World War II. Injured, he swam several miles to the island of Kefalonia, where he eventually collapsed on a beach. Local villagers hid Capes from the Italian occupiers for eighteen months until he was finally rescued and returned to service.

But what happened during those intervening months? That question stayed with me.

My research eventually took me to Kefalonia, where I interviewed a man whose mother was among the islanders who risked their lives to protect Capes. He had been a little boy at the time. He filled in many of the details about daily life under Italian occupation – the fear, the secrecy, and the courage required simply to survive. But there was still very little information about Capes’s personal experiences during those hidden months on the island.

That’s where the history gives way to the fiction – and where The Weight of Loyalty truly begins.

Why did you choose to self-publish?

Initially, I received a contract from a traditional publishing company for The Weight of Loyalty. In the end, I said thank you, but no. Except for providing a cover, the firm offered little incentive and virtually no promotional support. I’ve self-published four novels, a novella, and one short-story book, with another one on the way later this year, and have a great cover designer who does all my books. I keep more of the profit for each book sold, maintain all publishing rights, and direct my own marketing, something I’d have to do at my expense with many traditional publishers anyway. If you can master the process, which most anyone can, why not self-publish?

What tools or companies did you use, and what experience did you have?

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. There was a learning curve in the beginning, but the KDP site is filled with helpful background, suggestions, and prompts. With practice, the process becomes intuitive.