The bestselling novel from international literary phenomenon Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist. 'Love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer...' So says Maria, a young Brazilian girl convinced from an early age that she will never find true love. A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, but the glittering life she hoped for was a fantasy. The reality – selling herself to survive – is a dehumanising grind that pushes her further away from real love, towards a fascination with pure physical pleasure. But when her emotional barriers are tested by a handsome young painter, she must choose between the dark path she is on and risking everything to find her 'inner light'. Can she move beyond the meeting of minds or even souls – to a place where sex itself is sacred? A daring modern fable about the nature of love and sex.