Eleven Minutes

<p><strong>One of Coelho's strongest.--<em>Kirkus Reviews</em></strong></p><p><strong>The book casts a curiously sweet spell.--<em>Entertainment Weekly</em></strong></p><p><strong>From the author of beloved international bestseller <em>The Alchemist</em> a daring novel that explores the sacred nature of sex and love and invites us to confront our own prejudices and demons.</strong></p><p><em>Eleven Minutes</em> 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.</p><p>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.</p><p><strong>Sensual . . . [An] adults-only fairly tale.--<em>Washington Post</em></strong></p><p><strong>[This] Brazilian wizard makes books disappear from stores.--<em>The</em> <em>New York Times</em></strong></p>