Paulo Coelho: 'The Witch Of Portobello'

International best-selling author Paulo Coelho offers up another novel infused with love, passion and spirituality. ‘The Witch Of Portobello’ tells the story of Athena, a mysterious new age Romanian woman living in London through the eyes of the people who knew her best and the people who knew her hardly at all. At the start of the story, we discover Athena is dead. We learn that Athena was born in Transylvania to a gypsy mother, was adopted by wealthy Lebanese Christians and grew up in Beirut before moving to London with her new family. It was in London she becomes known as the ‘Witch of Portobello’ for her powers of prophecy. Coelho is renowned for his novels incorporating his views on the modern world as well as entwining his characters around the concept of spirituality.

‘The Witch of Portobello’ is entirely unconvincing, with wishy-washy new age spirituality running through out the book clouding any potential empathy and enjoyment of the characters. For readers who want to go away feeling like they have gained something from a novel, then I would highly recommend avoiding this book, but for those who believe in a “spiritual journey” and want to bond with their inner self and become one with nature, then this is probably right up your street.

Published 16th April 2007 by Harper Collins.

Written by Fran Swaine.