"The Devil and Miss Prym is a simple tale, with the meaning of life and spiritual guidance at its core."

-- The Guardian

A community divided by greed, cowardice, and fear. A man haunted by the ghost of a painful past. A young woman in search of happiness. Seven days, a short period during which good and evil will wage a decisive battle, and each character will decide on which of the two sides they belong. The small village of Viscos is the setting for this disturbing fight. With the arrival of a foreigner, the entire town becomes an accomplice in a perverse plot that will forever mark the history of its inhabitants.

The foreigner has traveled from far away and needs to find the answer to a question that torments him: Are human beings, in essence, good or evil? At once an evocative novel and a suspenseful page-turner, The Devil and Miss Prym captures one moment in our eternal struggle for self-knowledge, asking a question that all of us have stopped to reflect on at some point: What is the essence of the human being?

A stranger arrives at the remote village of Viscos, carrying with him a backpack containing a notebook and eleven gold bars. He comes searching for the ans-wer to a question that torments him: Are human beings, in essence, good or evil? In welcoming the mysterious foreigner, the whole village becomes an accomplice to his sophisticated plot, which will forever mark their lives.

A novel of temptation by the internationally bestselling author Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym is a thought-provoking parable of a community dev-oured by greed, cowardice, and fear--as it struggles with the choice between good and evil.

Coelho, Paulo

One of the most influential writers of our time, Paulo Coelho is the author of thirty international bestsellers, including The Alchemist, Brida, Veronika Decides to Die, Manual of the Warrior of Light, and Eleven Minutes. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Paulo is the recipient of 115 international prizes and awards, among them, the Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur (Legion of Honor). Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, he soon discovered his vocation for writing. He worked as a director, theater actor, songwriter, and journalist. In 1986, a special meeting led him to make the pilgrimage to Saint James Compostela (in Spain). The Road to Santiago was not only a common pilgrimage but a turning point in his existence. A year later, he wrote The Pilgrimage, an autobiographical novel that is considered the beginning of his literary career. He lives in Geneva, Switzerland.