Sacred sex. A paradoxical, utopian impossibility or a life- sustaining, attainable goal? This is the major question that underpins Paulo Coelho's new novel, Eleven Minutes, the tale of Maria, a naive young woman from Brazil who becomes a high-class prostitute in Switzerland. (The title of the book refers to the hypothetical average duration for an act of coitus.) And while Coelho comes down firmly in the end for the reality of a holy carnality, the path he takes to that affirmation acknowledges completely the snares and labyrinths awaiting any explorer of the fusion of body and soul. Paul Di Filippo
“One of Coelho's strongest.”-Kirkus Reviews
“The book casts a curiously sweet spell.”-Entertainment Weekly
From the author of beloved international bestseller The Alchemist, a daring novel that explores the sacred nature of sex and love and invites us to confront our own prejudices and demons.
Eleven Minutes tells the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that “love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer.” A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune, yet ends up working as a prostitute.
In Geneva, Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria must choose between pursuing a path of darkness-sexual pleasure for its own sake-or risking everything to find her own inner light and the possibility of true love.
“Sensual . . . [An] adults-only fairly tale.”-Washington Post
“[This] Brazilian wizard makes books disappear from stores.”-The New York Times
“One of Coelho's strongest.”-Kirkus Reviews
“The book casts a curiously sweet spell.”-Entertainment Weekly
From the author of beloved international bestseller The Alchemist, a daring novel that explores the sacred nature of sex and love and invites us to confront our own prejudices and demons.
Eleven Minutes tells the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that “love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer.” A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune, yet ends up working as a prostitute.
In Geneva, Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria must choose between pursuing a path of darkness-sexual pleasure for its own sake-or risking everything to find her own inner light and the possibility of true love.
“Sensual . . . [An] adults-only fairly tale.”-Washington Post
“[This] Brazilian wizard makes books disappear from stores.”-The New York Times
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
BN ID: | 2940178370094 |
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Publisher: | HarperCollins |
Publication date: | 11/14/2023 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |