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Cover of Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho

Eleven Minutes

  • 304 pages · about 5 hours
  • First published 2003
  • 22 editions

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1 About this book

Eleven Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that "love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer. . . ."

A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter.

In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness — sexual pleasure for its own sake — or risking everything to find her own "inner light" and the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of love. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

  • Romance
  • Love
  • Visionary & metaphysical
  • Brazil
  • Prostitutes
  • Sex

2 About Paulo Coelho

Born 1947

Paulo Coelho de Souza ( KWEL-yoo, koo-EL-yoo, -⁠yoh, Portuguese:; born 24 August 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He has been a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002. His 1988 novel The Alchemist is an international best-seller.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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