Demonio y la Senorita Prym / The Devil and Miss Prym (Spanish Edition)
Acclaimed Brazilian author Coelho presents the third title in a  trilogy that began with the novels A orillas del Rio Piedra me  sent y llore (By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, Planeta,  1998) and Veronika decide morir (Veronika Decides to Die,  Planeta, 2000), both of which concern a week in the life of an  ordinary person suddenly confronted with love and death. Like  these two titles, Coelho's new novel reflects his professed  belief that the most profound changes in individuals and in  society occur in brief periods of time, as the result of extreme  challenges. In this case, Coelho's fable revolves around the  question of whether people will commit evil in order to gain  wealth and power. After burying some gold in the forest, a  visitor arrives in a small village in the Pyrenees and initiates  a power struggle among the villagers by offering to give them  the gold if they kill one of their own. Coelho best explains the  personal crisis of the villagers through the young barmaid  Chantal, who becomes the visitor's messenger and struggles with  her choices and beliefs about good and evil in humankind. Coelho  has been called a New Age writer for his use of allegories,  moral messages, and uplifting life lessons. Although some  readers might not agree with his preaching, the intriguing and  fluid plot will keep them interested, just as it did in his six  previous best-selling novels. Recommended for public libraries  and bookstores with a New Age section. Lynn Shirey, Harvard  Coll. Lib., Cambridge, MACopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.