The Witch of Portobello

by Paulo Coelho

Paperback: 312 pages

Publisher: Harper Perennial (February 5, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0061338818

ISBN-13: 978-0061338816

Late last year (2008), I received an email from Carolena Sabah. She told me about a project she was working on based on The Witch of Portobello. I decided to interview her for the website and also went out and bought a copy of this book.

On the back cover of this book, it is stated as follows:

How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves – even if we are unsure of who we are?

That is the central question of international bestselling author Paulo Coelho’s profound new work, The Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well – or hardly at all. Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the way reader thinks about love, passion, joy, and sacrifice.

I do not think that my perception of love, passion, joy and sacrifice has changed from reading this book. However, I will say that Paulo Coelho has been able to put into words, in a very elegant way, some universal truths about these emotions. It is the kind of book that will appeal to those who seek an explanation of these emotions in an entertaining and, yet, informative way. The effort to make such complicated emotions sound simple is enormous and certainly well-done.

The story is a series of interviews with fourteen people who knew Athena, the central character and the woman who, ultimately, came to be known as, ‘The Witch of Portobello’. Born in Transylvania to a gypsy mother, Athena was given up for adoption to Lebanese parents who named her, ’Sherine’. She went to live with them in Lebanon and, thereafter, England. When she grew up, she wanted people to know her as Athena. From a very young age, she was very intense in her feelings and, soon, believed wholeheartedly in the teachings of the Catholic Church. She turned her back on the Church when she was denied Communion because her divorce had come through. She then focused all of her attention on her own spiritual journey. She came across many methods of practice from dance to calligraphy. Through her work, she was sent to places as exotic as Dubai. Finally, her travels brought her to Transylvania where she went in search of, and found, her biological mother. After the reunion, she returned to London and tried to further her understanding of things by teaching others what she'd learned. This desire to teach was the start of what finally led her to her death.

Paulo Coelho, being a best-selling author that he is, needs very little introduction. This book is written in very much the same style as his other books – the sentences are short and the language is easy. The plot of The Witch of Portobello is very well crafted; every event, every conversation, every part of this tale reveals itself at the appropriate moment. Without doubt, Paulo Coelho managed to sustain the suspense in this tale because, throughout, I wanted to know how Athena died; in addition, the twist at the end is just superb.

Though Athena herself is never really ‘interviewed’ in this tale, Paulo Coelho still manages to 'paint' her character thoroughly. Even the other characters, from her biological mother, adopted mother, ex-husband and so on are very well crafted – their own troubles are interwoven into the tale and by the end, one almost feels sorry that they are being thoroughly deceived.

Here are some of the memorable sentences from the book:

‘When sacred texts are written, they contain the soul of the man who served as an instrument to spread them throughout the world. And that doesn’t apply only to sacred texts, but to every mark we place on paper. Because the hand that draws each line reflects the soul of the person making that line.’

‘What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.’

‘“…. do you believe that through dance we can enter a trancelike state that helps us to see the light? …”

“…Of course, and that happens not only through dance, but also through anything that allows us to focus on our attention and to separate body and spirit. Like yoga or prayer or Buddhist meditation.”

“Or calligraphy.”’

The important thing is to allow fate to intervene in our lives and to decide what is best for everyone.

‘I can see the storm approaching. Like all storms, it brings destruction, but at the same time, it soaks the fields and the wisdom of the heavens fall with the rain. Like all storms, it will pass. The more violent it is, the more quickly it will pass.’

‘What is ritual? It means transforming something monotonous into something different, rhythmic, capable of channelling the Unity.’

This is a story that will remain with me for a long while yet.  

28 January 2009/span>

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