An illustration of a person reading in a blue setting full of people

Short-Books-for-Busy-People_Hero-Desktop_Penguin

Reading lists

Short books to read when you’re overwhelmed

paulo-coehlo-life-according-to-article-main-960×450.jpg

Features

Life according to Paulo Coelho

The Spy

Her only crime was to be an independent woman

The fascinating story of her life is . . . beautifully written and gripping.

Coelho, whose books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, has taken the Mata Hara story and fashioned it into a short dynamo of a novel. 
<i style='box-sizing: border-box; font-size: small; font-family: "amazon ember", arial, sans-serif; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; text-transform: none; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(51,51,51); font-style: italic; orphans: 2; widows: 2; letter-spacing: normal; background-color: rgb(255,255,255); text-indent: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-color: initial'>

A striking novel. . . . By the end, readers will believe they've read [Mata Hari's] actual letters.

Spiritualists and wanderlusts will eagerly devour . . . [Coelho's] search for all things meaningful.

Paulo Coelho’s life remains the primary source of inspiration for his books. He has flirted with death, escaped madness, dallied with drugs, withstood torture, experimented with magic and alchemy, studied philosophy and religion, read voraciously, lost and recovered his faith, and experienced the pain and pleasure of love. In searching for his own place in the world, he discovered answers for the challenges that everyone faces. He believes that, within ourselves, we have the necessary strength to find our own destiny. 
 
 
His first novel, THE ALCHEMIST, has now sold more than 85 million copies and has been cited as an inspiration by people as diverse as Malala Yousafzai and Pharrell Williams. 
 
 
Paulo Coelho’s books have sold more than 225 million copies worldwide and he is the most translated living author. He has won 115 international prizes and awards and in 2007 was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

'Beautifully written and gripping'. Sunday Mirror 
 
When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. 
 
Soon she was feted as the most elegant woman in the city. 
 
A dancer who shocked and delighted audiences, as a confidante and courtesan she bewitched the era’s richest and most powerful men. 
 
But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari’s lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917 she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees and accused of espionage. 
 
Told in Mata Hari's voice through her final letter, The Spy is the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to break the conventions of her time, and paid the price.

Adultery

The thought-provoking new novel from the international bestselling author whose words change lives.

Adultery perfectly illustrates the faint line between madness and insanity, happiness and unhappiness as well as the eternal search for our own “personal legend”

The thought-provoking new novel from the international bestselling author whose words change lives. 
 
Linda knows she's lucky. 
 
Yet every morning when she opens her eyes to a so-called new day, she feels like closing them again. 
 
Her friends recommend medication. 
 
But Linda wants to feel more, not less. 
 
And so she embarks on an adventure as unexpected as it is daring, and which reawakens a side of her that she - respectable wife, loving mother, ambitious journalist - thought had disappeared. 
 
Even she can't predict what will happen next...

Selections from Classic Literature

Inspirations

His books have had a life-enhancing impact on millions of people

One of the most influential writers of our time, Paulo Coelho is the author of many international best sellers, including The Alchemist, Adultery and The Spy. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and has received the Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur. In 2007, he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

'Anthology' comes from the Greek word that stands for garlands - a bouquet of flowers. An anthology then, should be a small token of something much larger. In the case of flowers, they bring to mind the colour &amp; fragrance of the fields, of a season. Coelho's anthology, therefore, is not only a collection of texts or poems, but a gift, something arranged according to his sensitivities, to give to others. The selection of books presented in this volume have been chosen as if from a vast field of flowers, stretching infinitely into time's horizon. Coelho's selection is ordered in to the four elements, symbolizing both our world on all its directions, and the way we dwell in it, the way we say it. In 'Earth' we find writers as diverse as Oscar Wilde and D H Lawrence; in 'Air' Nelson Mandela and Gabriel Garcia Marques; in 'Fire' Rumi and Mary Shelley; in 'Water' Hans Christian Anderson and Machiavelli.

Paulo Coelho

Beautifully written . . . an inspiring read

A spiritual journey of self-discovery

A journey to the past. 
 A map for the future. 
 
 After hitchhiking from Brazil to nearly halfway around the world, Paulo stumbles across Karla, a young Dutch woman and like-minded soul, in Amsterdam’s famous Dam Square. 
 
 Together they decide to take the fabled hippie trail across Europe to Nepal, aboard the Magic Bus, in search of self-discovery. So begins a life-defining love story that will set the course for the rest of their lives. 
 
 Drawing on the rich experience of his own life, Paulo Coelho relives the dreams of a generation that longed for peace and challenged the established social order.

Paulo Coelho

Praise for Hippie

Beautifully written . . . an inspiring read

A spiritual journey of self-discovery

Books by Paulo Coelho

Articles featuring Paulo Coelho

Short books to read when you’re overwhelmed

Life according to Paulo Coelho

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter