ABOUT THE BOOK: Paulo Coelho was the author of the book The Alchemist, published in the year 1988 at Brazil. Initially, it was published in Portuguese language and later it was translated into English in 1993 by the Harper Torch (publisher). The original name of the book was “O ALQUIMISTA” which is in the Portuguese language.
This book was translated into above 45 languages until October 2009.
It is the international best seller book according to the ALP. It has sold 65 million copies in 56 different languages. Below we have provided the detailed Summary & Study Guide as well as analysis to help you understand the book. The detailed summary and review also contains topics for Discussion on The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
The Alchemist Book By Paulo Coelho Details
Name of the Book: The Alchemist
Publish Date: 1988
Author: Paulo Coelho
Published by: Harper Torch
Price: 149.00
Pages: 163
ISBN: ISBN 0-06-250217-4
ABOUT THE AUTHOR PAULO COELHO
Paulo Coelho was born in 24thAugust 1947 (age 68), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He attends the school in Jesuit, he was a novelist with known language as Portuguese. He was married with Christina Oicticica. He won the ‘Crystal award’ by the world economic forum, winning the world record for most translated book by a living author.
When he was in young age he was interested in becoming a writer, but his father was an engineer. He is a logical thinker and had a clear idea about his vision, so his mother told him never think about it. By the interest of their parents, he was forced to enroll in law school by the cancellation of his dream to become a writer.
After one year he dropped his way and changed the living style as a Hippe and travel’s through South Africa, North Africa, Mexico, Europe, and started using drugs in the year 1960s. After some time around the year 1982, Coelho published his first book “Hell Archives”, which failed to make a substantial impact.
After that, he wrote The Pilgrimage that was published in 1987. The following year Coelho wrote The Alchemist and published it through a small Brazilian publishing house, which made an initial print run of 900 copies.
Here the other books by Paulo Coelho
- Hell Archives-1982
- The Pilgrimage-1987
- Brida-1990
- The Valkyries-1992
- By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept-1994
- Maktub-1994
- Frases-1995
- The Fifth Mountain-1996
- Manual Of The Warrior Of Light-1997
- Veronika Decides To Die-1998
- The Illustrated Alchemist-1998
- The Devil And Miss Prym-2000
- Essential Words-2001
- Eleven Minutes-2003
- Life: Selected Quotations-2004
- The Zihar-2005
- The Way Of The Bow-2005
- Like The Following River-2006
- The Witch Of Portobello-2007
- The Winner Stands Alone-2008
- Aleph-2011
- Manuscript Found In Accra-2012
- Adultery-2014
- The Supreme Gift-2015
- Courage: Day Planner 2016 -2015
THE ALCHEMIST BOOK SUMMERY / CONTENTS
The Alchemist is a book of 163 pages with ISBN 0-06-250217-4 (first English edition, hardcover).
The novel consists of the following characters
- Santiago
- Melchizedek
- The crystal merchant
- The Englishman
- Fatima
- The Alchemist
- The Coptic Monk
- The Romani(gypsy) woman
Coming to the story Santiago plays a major role, he lives Andalusia ( an autonomous community in Spain). He was a shepherd boy who takes a care of sheep’s. One day while he was sleeping a reoccurring about the child who tells about the treasure in Egyptian pyramids.
He consulted old women – a future teller resides nearby his town to discover the meaning behind the reoccurring dream. She tells that it was a prophetic dream and said that he should follow the instructions. From there he decides to start the journey to reveal the secret.
By the way, he meets the king of Salem, Melchizedek. Who tells to sell his sheep to travel for Egypt and explained about the Personal Legend. Personal Legend is nothing but Accomplish the work that you have always wanted.
Along the way, he also meets the Englishman who is an alchemist and travels with him. During the travel in Sahara desert, he met a woman named Fatima, who resides in Oasis.
In the journey, he falls in love with her and asks to marry him but she said that she marry him after his journey on finding the treasures.
He realized that she was not a true lover. And there are many characters that he meets throughout the journey and by the story, the author wants to convey the core theme is “When you want something, all universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”