By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
A Novel of Forgiveness
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4.3 • 182 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
From Paulo Coelho, the renowned author of The Alchemist, comes a deeply moving and poetic work of spiritual fiction that explores the timeless depths of love, forgiveness, and self-discovery.
By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept tells the heartfelt story of Pilar, a strong yet guarded woman, and her childhood friend, now a charismatic spiritual leader. Reuniting after eleven years in a poignant second chance romance, their relationship takes them on an emotional and spiritual odyssey in a small village in the French Pyrenees. Against the backdrop of the River Piedra, they confront unresolved pain, long-buried emotions, and ultimately, the quest to find love and freedom and confront some of life’s most important questions.
As their bond deepens, Pilar is drawn into her friend's world of faith and miracles, challenging her own beliefs and understanding of life's purpose and her own femininity. Along this journey of self-discovery, Pilar must wrestle with her fears of vulnerability and the possibility of losing herself in the process of rediscovering love.
Both an ethereal love story and a powerful exploration of how discovering our inner spiritual being—and forgiving ourselves, and others—can reshape our lives in completely unexpected ways. Paulo Coelho’s masterful storytelling and poetic prose inspires us to uncover the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary and the intimate moments that bring magic into our lives, and the every day.
A stunning and unforgettable exploration of divine love, human connection, intimate self-reflection, and the sacrifices that come with following one’s true path—and heart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Before James Redfield there was Coelho, whose fiction laden with spiritual messages has proved more popular overseas than here. (The Alchemist, first published in Brazil in 1988 and here in 1993, glanced PW's paperback bestseller list but has sold two million copies in South America.) Though likely to please the author's fans, this new novel, a didactic love story set in modern-day Spain, may not extend his reach. Its heroine is Pilar, 28, who, in the company of her former boyfriend, learns over the course of seven days that "the spiritual path is traveled by means of the daily experience of love." That may be music to Coelho devotees, but others will note the surrounding cacophony-the incessant lapsing from narrative into lecture; the stilted characters, who lack motive and verisimilitude (after 10 years of separation, the ex, a former seminarian, now an esteemed miracle worker, invites Pilar for coffee and declares his love for her). Coelho's message, though, informed by his adherence to the Roman Catholic sect of the Order of Ram, is invariably heartfelt and challenging, emphasizing the feminine aspects of the divine and the charismatic aspects of worship. "Some day," Pilar learns, "people would realize... that we can perform miracles, cure, prophesize and understand." Whether that understanding will encompass Coelho's reasons for sacrificing dramatic integrity to polemic, and for insisting on cloaking sermons in fictional trappings, remains to be seen. $75,000 ad/promo.
Customer Reviews
By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Slow start.However after the first few pages, PHENOMENAL read. I enjoy how the author writes with relatable spiritual parallels.This is certainly a must read.
Muy buena
Leí este libro pq se lo recomendó la cuñada de mi mamá esto cuando yo era niño , y lo leí y me gustó tanto q lo volví a leer unos años mas tarde.
Incredible
absolute beauty