The Devil and Miss Prym - Softcover

Coelho, Paulo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 8172235151 ISBN 13: 9788172235154

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2005

Synopsis

A stranger arrives in a remote mountain village, searching for the answer to a question that torments him: are human beings, in essence, good or evil?

A community devoured by greed, cowardice and fear. A man persecuted by the ghosts of his painful past. A young woman searching for happiness. In one eventful week, each of them will face questions of life, death and power, and each of them will have to choose their own path. Will they choose good or evil?

The remote village of Viscos is the setting for this extraordinary struggle. A stranger arrives, carrying with him a backpack containing a notebook and eleven gold bars. In welcoming the mysterious foreigner, the whole village becomes an accomplice to his sophisticated plot, which will forever mark their lives.

In this stunning novel, Paulo Coelho dramatizes the struggle within every soul between light and darkness, and its relevance to our everyday struggles: to dare to follow our dreams, to have the courage to be different and to master the fear that prevents us from truly living. The Devil and Miss Prym is a story charged with emotion, in which the integrity of being human meets a terrifying test.

About this title

Review:

The Devil and Miss Prym is the conclusion to the trilogy And on the Seventh Day which began with By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept and the hugely popular Veronika Decides to Die. Each of the three books focuses on a week in the life of ordinary people faced with a major life-changing force; be it love, death or power, it is Coelho's firm belief that "the profoundest changes take place within a very reduced time frame".

The Devil and Miss Prym sees a stranger arriving in the remote mountain village of Viscos carrying with him a notebook and 11 bars of gold. The first person to strike up conversation with the stranger is the inappropriately named Miss Prym, the hotel barmaid. Unbeknownst to her, Chantal Prym is exactly the subject the man had been hoping to find. The stranger puts a proposition to Chantal and with it gives her the power to prove or disprove a supposition that has tormented him for years--"Given the right set of circumstances every human being on this earth would be willing to commit evil". Should Chantal prove him right, all her dreams of escape to a new life would come true, but proving the stranger right would mean casting aside her deeply ingrained beliefs about right and wrong. So ensues a moral dilemma and a spiritual struggle between good and evil that will impact on everyone in the village.

This slim novel has the timeless quality of a parable. The sophisticated plot blends seamlessly with Coelho's uncomplicated language. As "the story of one man is the story of all men" so the reader is invited to think carefully about the struggle that is taking place within their own soul, to consider whether they would have the courage to stand out from the crowd. This is a truly accomplished novel from the pen of a philosopher and a master storyteller. --Sarah Crawford

Review:

‘An exceptional writer.' USA TODAY

‘His books have had a life-enhancing impact on millions of people.’
THE TIMES

‘One of the few to deserve the term Publishing Phenomenon.’
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

‘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

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 8172235151
• ISBN 13: 9788172235154
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224