Product Description

How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves—even if we are unsure of whom we are?

That is the central question of international bestselling author Paulo Coelho's profound new work, The Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well—or hardly at all. Among them:

"People create a reality and then become the victims of that reality. Athena rebelled against that—and paid a high price."
Heron Ryan, journalist

"I was used and manipulated by Athena, with no consideration for my feelings. She was my teacher, charged with passing on the sacred mysteries, with awakening the unknown energy we all possess. When we venture into that unfamiliar sea, we trust blindly in those who guide us, believing that they know more than we do."
Andrea McCain, actress

"Athena's great problem was that she was a woman of the twenty-second century living in the twenty-first, and making no secret of the fact, either. Did she pay a price? She certainly did. But she would have paid a still higher price if she had repressed her natural exuberance. She would have been bitter, frustrated, always concerned about 'what other people might think,' always saying, 'I'll just sort these things out, then I'll devote myself to my dream,' always complaining 'that the conditions are never quite right.'"
Deidre O'Neill, known as Edda

Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the way readers think about love, passion, joy, and sacrifice.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103015 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-01
• Released on: 2007-05-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Multimillion-seller Coelho (The Devil and Miss Prym, etc.) returns with another uncanny fusion of philosophy, religious miracle and moral parable. The Portobello of the title is London's Portobello Road, where Sherine Khalil, aka Athena, finds the worship meeting she's leading—where she becomes an omniscient goddess named Hagia Sophia—disrupted by a Protestant protest. Framed as a set of interviews conducted with those who knew Athena, who is dead as the book opens, the story recounts her birth in Transylvania to a Gypsy mother, her adoption by wealthy Lebanese Christians; her short, early marriage to a man she meets at a London college (one of the interviewees); her son Viorel's birth; and her stint selling real estate in Dubai. Back in London in the book's second half, Athena learns to harness the powers that have been present but inchoate within her, and the story picks up as she acquires a "teacher" (Deidre O'Neill, aka Edda, another interviewee), then disciples (also interviewed), and speeds toward a spectacular end. Coelho veers between his signature criticism of modern life and the hydra-headed alternative that Athena taps into. Athena's earliest years don't end up having much plot, but the second half's intrigue sustains the book. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Paulo Coelho does not disappoint in this story of the mysterious Athena and her quest for truth, love, and spirituality. Told through a series of interviews with at least a dozen characters, Coelhos tale is perfect for the audiobook format. This plot technique would challenge any narrator, but Rita Wolf is equal to the task. She moves seamlessly and convincingly between a British banker, a Romanian gypsy, and a holy man in the deserts of Dubai, to cite only a few of the characters. Portrayals of both genders and characters of varying ages are accomplished just as credibly. Wolfs performance and Coelhos writing combine to give the listener that rare experience in which message and medium are ideally matched. M.O.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Best-selling fabulist Coelho continues to transform his trademark combination of mysticism and storytelling into spellbinding examinations of the human soul. In this deceptively simple novel, a bereaved lover attempts to chronicle, dissect, and comprehend the often-twisted path followed by Athena, otherwise known as the Witch of Portobello Road. An orphaned Romanian gypsy, adopted as an infant by adoring Lebanese parents, Athena recognized and struggled with the power of her magical gifts at an early age. Spurred on by truths and passions inaccessible to most of her contemporaries, she traipsed around Europe and the Middle East in search of acceptance, enlightenment, and a truer path. Developing a cultlike following, she became the object of a modern-day witch hunt that seemingly culminated in tragedy. Unable to construct a typically straightforward chronicle of her life, her would-be biographer relies on the divergent recollections and reflections of the people who knew--or thought they knew--her best. Narrated from multiple points of view, the portrait of Athena that emerges is as provocative and spiritually complex as one would expect from the author of The Alchemist (1993) and The Devil and Miss Prym (2006). Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Terrible! I'll never waste my time on another book by this author!
Unless you enjoy reading prose that could very well have been constructed by a student in middle school, stay away!

A Decent Read
My enjoyment of this book was based more on the plot itself than the philosophy or the characters. I enjoyed the structure of the novel as well, told from various perspectives of the title characters friends, families, and acquaintances. The Witch of Portobello, or Athena, is not the most sympathetic character, but I think everyone can relate at some point in our lives to an empty, unfulfilled feeling. This meaninglessness in Athena's life motivates her to explore different ways to fill her void, through motherhood, dance, and even locating her birth mother.

I enjoyed some characters narratives more than others. Particularly Athena's adoptive mother, who tries so hard to provide a stable life for her daughter and tries to understand Athena's precociousness. I did not, however, care at all for Athena's "teacher," Edda, who seemed a bit self-serving and I didn't take any stock in her touchy-feely earth-goddess mumbo jumbo, which seemed to go on paragraph after paragraph. In general, I thought the whole belief system lacked any cohesiveness, although I was intrigued at Athena's power. The ending has quite an interesting development, and I don't want to give anything away, but it clearly indicates that the people who thought they new Athena so well had only scratched the surface of her life. That mystery, that arm's-length distance she kept, added intrigue to her image.

quoting father Fontana
I struggle to explain.. maybe the following would put this book into perspective
", but the fact is that, to a greater or lesser extent , all creative human beings have such experiences, which are known as 'possession by the sacred'. suddenly for a fraction of a second, we feel that our whole life is justified, our sins forgiven, and that love is still the strongest force, one that can transform us forever.
..."
i am anthea and she is me