Review of : The witch of portobello

Author: Paulo Coelha 

Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher

No of pages:  320

ISBN:  9780061338809

Rating: 5/5 

Totally different from the usual Paulo Coelho styles The witch of portobello recounts Adena’s  life as seen from her different acquaintances , relations and friends. Adhena is a child adopted from Romania blessed with the spiritual light from birth. In the process of her growth, her parents are induced to the fact of the specialties of her character apart from the usual children of her age. Before long they loose her from the usual life to her own spiritual search in which she quits collage and gets married at a very early age  and gives birth to a male child whom she names ‘Viorel’ which is a Romanian name relating to her roots in the Romanian gypsy colonies. As she advances in her spiritual journey she receives both friends,followers as well as foes from many sides. The suspense relies in Adena’s death which marks an abrupt end to the rage from religious fanatics against her  “witchcraft”(They call her the ‘witch of portobello’).Framing her own ‘fake’ death she disappears to a silent existence with the help of her boyfriend in Scotland yard.

This paulo Coelho tale is ‘not meant for the usual reader’ I would say, considering its uniqueness in construction and depth.