About the Author

Paulo Coelho is the author of The Alchemist, he was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Being the author of 30 books that have sold over 320 million copies in 170 countries, he has become one of the most widely read authors in the world today. Paulo Coelho has been a United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2007 and this has allowed him to continue to promote intercultural dialogue and to focus on the needs of children. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and the recipient of over 115 awards and honours, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the Grinzane Cavour Book Award and the Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur, to name a few.

Other titles include: The Pilgrimage, Brida, The Valkyries, The Fifth Mountain, Manual of the Warrior of Light, Veronika Decides to Die, The Devil and Miss Prym, Eleven Minutes, The Zahir, Like the Flowing River, The Witch of Portobello, The Winner Stands Alone, Aleph.

Reviews

‘One of the few to deserve the term “publishing phenomenon”’ Independent on Sunday ‘His books have had a life-enhancing impact on millions of people.’ The Times ‘His writing is like a path of energy that inadvertently leads readers to themselves, toward their mysterious and faraway souls.’ Le Figaro ‘Coelho’s writing is beautifully poetic but his message is what counts… he gives me hope and puts a smile on my face.’ Daily Express ‘An exceptional writer.' USA Today

A self-help sheen hangs over this book by the internationally bestselling author of The Alchemist, which reads much more like a collection of bland aphorisms than a work of fiction. It is Jerusalem, the year 1099, and as French soldiers prepare to invade, a group gathers around a trite sage known as "the Copt." The topics broached are wide-ranging and somewhat random: a young woman asks about solitude and the Copt gives her a circuitous answer: "If you are never alone, you cannot know yourself. And if you do not know yourself, you will begin to fear the void. But the void does not exist." A boy, worrying he may be useless, is told: "Don't try to be useful. Try to be yourself; that is enough, and that makes all the difference." Another woman decides that the time is right to ask about elegance and is told that elegance is more about how one wears clothes than the clothes themselves. If Coelho is attempting parody, he has failed, this being both too long and too broad. The wisdom to be found here could be found in many other, better places. Agent: Sant Jordi Asociados (Spain). (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.