The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho

I was cautious about reading another book by Coelho because I really enjoyed The Alchemist and was unsure if I could seperate the books and not be dissapointed as I didn’t think it was possible to do better. I will admit that I was right, in my opinion The Alchemist was a better story, but far more traditional and straightforward. In The Witch of Portobello Coelho explores ‘the feminine face of God.’ It was written in a facinating style where the main character was described by others. There was never a first-person narrative from Athena herself. I found this to be a very powerful technique. I don’t know if the reader would accept this normally, but at the beginning you learn that she was murdered and therefore cannot tell the story herself.

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