Philosophical travels

A writer named Paulo questions everything: daily routines, conversations, relationships, faith. Then he steps out of his self-imposed isolation and commits to promoting his new book, traveling the world and traversing Russia via the Trans-Siberian Railway. At a dinner party with his wife prior to his departure, a Moroccan clairvoyant speaks. “The soul of Turkey will give your husband all the love she possesses, but she will spill his blood before she reveals what it is she is seeking.” Paulo (both a character and the author of this novel) is destined to meet a gifted young violinist, Hilal who will travel with him to the aleph, the point where everything is in the same place at the same time. Hilal is the woman who proclaimed her love for him five centuries ago, during the Inquisition that led to her death. Coelho’s latest, Aleph, tells the story of the beauty of desire and forgiveness.