Le Zahir by Paulo Coelho

Le Zahir by Paulo Coelho

Set in Paris and in the enchanting landscape of central Asia, this new novel by the author of the international bestsellers The Alchemist and Eleven Minutes follows the journey of a man obsessed with finding the wife who left him without an explanation.

The narrator of The Zahir is a bestselling novelist who lives in Paris and enjoys all the privileges that money and celebrity bring. His wife of ten years, Esther, is a war correspondent who, despite her professional success and freedom from the conventional constraints of marriage, is facing an existential crisis. When she disappears along with a friend, Mikhail, who may or may not be her lover, the authorities question the narrator. Was Esther kidnapped, killed, or did she simply abandon a marriage that left her unfulfilled? The narrator doesn't have any answers but he has plenty of questions of his own.

Then one day Mikhail, the man with whom Esther was last seen, finds the narrator and promises to take him to his wife. In his attempt to recapture a love lost, the narrator discovers something unexpected about himself.

A haunting and redemptive story about the dark side of obsession, The Zahir explores its potential to both fulfill our dreams and to destroy them. It is also a thoughtful meditation on faith, celebrity, marriage -- and their relationships to freedom and creativity.

The life of PAULO COELHO continues to be the principal source of inspiration for his books. He's flirted with death, evaded crazy, dabbled with narcotics, endured torture, studied philosophy and religion, read voraciously, lost and rediscovered his faith, and experienced the pain and pleasure of love. He has discovered answers to the issues that everyone experiences while searching for his own place in the world. He believes that we all possess the essential strength to determine our own fate. Adultery, his most recent work, was a international bestseller.

His 1988 novel The Alchemist has sold over 65 million copies and has been hailed as an influence by Malala Yousafzai and Pharrell Williams, among others. Paulo Coelho's books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide. His work has been translated into 81 languages, making him the most widely read living author on the planet.