The Fifth Mountain

“More ambitious than The Alchemist. A thought-provoking tale.” – TIME magazine

A sweeping and deeply personal novel about faith, loss, and the will to rebuild — from Paulo Coelho, the internationally bestselling author of The Alchemist.

The Fifth Mountain takes us to ninth-century Israel, where the young prophet Elijah is fleeing for his life. Queen Jezebel has ordered the execution of every prophet who refuses to worship her pagan gods, and Elijah — chosen by God to deliver a message the powerful do not want to hear — has no choice but to run. Guided by an angel, he crosses the desert and takes refuge in the Phoenician city of Akbar, where he finds an unlikely home with a widow and her young son. As he settles into an uneasy peace and begins to rebuild, catastrophe strikes — and Elijah is forced to confront the mountain that has shadowed his journey from the beginning.

Inspired by a moment of devastating loss in Coelho's own life, the novel asks the question at the heart of all human suffering: why do terrible things happen to those who are trying to do what is right? Elijah's answer — hard-won and quietly transformative — is the beating heart of this book.

A timeless story about the courage it takes to keep faith when everything you love has been taken from you, The Fifth Mountain is a liberating and ultimately uplifting read.