The Witch of Portobello

The Witch of Portobello
Paulo Coelho

From one of the world's best loved storytellers, Paulo Coelho, comes a riveting novel tracing the mysterious life and disappearance of Athena dubbed ‘the Witch of Portobello’.This is the story of Athena, or Sherine, to give her the name she was baptised with. Her life is pieced together through a series of recorded interviews with those people who knew her well or hardly at all – parents, colleagues, teachers, friends, acquaintances, her ex-husband.The novel unravels Athena's mysterious beginnings, via an orphanage in Romania, to a childhood in Beirut. When war breaks out, her adoptive family move with her to London, where a dramatic turn of events occurs…Athena, who has been dubbed 'the Witch of Portobello' for her seeming powers of prophecy, disappears dramatically, leaving those who knew her to solve the mystery of her life and abrupt departure.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.

Before these statements left my desk and followed the fate I eventually chose for them, I considered using them as the basis for a traditional, painstakingly researched biography, recounting a true story. And so I read various biographies, thinking this would help me, only to realise that the biographer’s view of his subject inevitably influences the results of his research. Since it wasn’t my intention to impose my own opinions on the reader, but to set down the story of the ‘Witch of Portobello’ as seen by its main protagonists, I soon abandoned the idea of writing a straight biography and decided that the best approach would be simply to transcribe what people had told me.

The Witch of Portobello

Paulo Coelho

Translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa

For S.F.X., a sun who spread light and warmth wherever he went, and was an example to all those who think beyond their horizons.

No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

Luke 11: 33

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for those who turn to you. Amen.

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u5e8c4c86-4701-5bd5-a710-9775ca882516)

Excerpt (#u27d49550-019c-5407-8b10-7f6e281f2e6d)

Title Page (#ubfd986d8-39f6-57a9-9954-e75ba501cf5a)

Dedication (#u4a481aa7-d31d-5e6b-bd17-78d5403ec82e)

Epigraph (#udc14a0f5-71a7-5b15-ae57-ac83bb165024)

Heron Ryan, 44, journalist (#u4f8e19ae-e933-54d5-8dd1-9abf7603c056)

Andrea McCain, 32, actress (#u346cade5-d073-538e-988f-f920788132ad)

Deidre O’Neill, 37, doctor, known as Edda (#ub760d43c-4b7d-504a-856b-2ee90196497a)

Lella Zainab, 64, numerologist (#ua5d24c81-b1de-5ce6-9f53-314ebc979b28)

Samira R. Khalil, 57, housewife, Athena’s mother (#u0313b11c-5dfe-55c0-9565-c3c07ac74ef7)

Luka’s Jessen-Petersen, 32, engineer, ex-husband (#u86014ff7-eea0-5b61-b1e9-48716094e5dc)

Father Giancarlo Fontana, 72 (#udbe803f8-6737-5e34-94c4-05e049970d8e)

Luka’s Jessen-Petersen, ex-husband (#u16091da1-08d9-58ad-8ff8-8c071adaace4)

Father Giancarlo Fontana (#u5e813574-bb47-5378-aad9-8ab8ee6e817a)

Pavel Podbielski, 57, owner of the apartment (#uceac0a9d-f0f2-554c-b829-799bf0f65d40)

Peter Sherney, 47, manager of a branch of [name of Bank omitted] in Holland Park, London (#u40feb3a9-8c42-5462-90ff-2d716f13cb3b)

Nabil Alaihi, age unknown, Bedouin (#litres_trial_promo)

Samira R. Khalil, Athena’s mother (#litres_trial_promo)

Heron Ryan, journalist (#litres_trial_promo)

Deidre O’Neill, known as Edda (#litres_trial_promo)

Vosho ‘Bushalo’, 65, restaurant owner (#litres_trial_promo)

Heron Ryan, journalist (#litres_trial_promo)

Liliana, seamstress, age and surname unknown (#litres_trial_promo)

Samira R. Khalil, housewife (#litres_trial_promo)

Deidre O’Neill, known as Edda (#litres_trial_promo)

Heron Ryan, journalist (#litres_trial_promo)

Antoine Locadour, 74, historian, ICP, France (#litres_trial_promo)

Andrea McCain, actress (#litres_trial_promo)

Deidre O’Neill, known as Edda (#litres_trial_promo)

Heron Ryan, journalist (#litres_trial_promo)

Andrea McCain, actress (#litres_trial_promo)

Heron Ryan, journalist (#litres_trial_promo)

Antoine Locadour, historian (#litres_trial_promo)

Deidre O’Neill, known as Edda (#litres_trial_promo)

Andrea McCain, actress (#litres_trial_promo)

Heron Ryan, journalist (#litres_trial_promo)

Deidre O’Neill, known as Edda (#litres_trial_promo)

Andrea McCain, actress (#litres_trial_promo)

Heron Ryan, journalist (#litres_trial_promo)