The Zahir (A Novel Of Obsession)

Summary Of The Book
The Zahir is a novel that explores love and a search for identity, a search of discovery. It revolves around a bestselling novelist. His wife, Esther, suddenly disappears, and no trace of her is to be found.
The writer becomes obsessed with finding her, or what happened to her. He wants to find the reason for her disappearance. He meets a friend of his wife, Mikhail. He learns that his wife had left of her own accord. She had left in search of peace, to understand herself and where she stood in life.
After learning this, the idea of finding his wife becomes an obsession with the protagonist. It is a Zahir, an Arabic word meaning something that cannot be overlooked or ignored. He goes in search of his wife, to find her, to find the reasons for her leaving him.
The trail leads him from France to Spain to Croatia to Central Asia. On the way, he gradually realizes that in order to find his wife, to understand her, he must first understand himself. He realizes that her problems in their relationship, in their life together, was the main reason for her disappearance.

About Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist and lyricist. He writes in Portuguese.
Other books by Paulo Coelho are The Alchemist, Aleph, Eleven Minutes, Veronika Decides To Die, and Like The Flowing River: Thoughts And Reflections.
Coelho’s books have a spiritual undercurrent, they are philosophical in their theme, exploring the deeper meanings of life.
Paulo Coelho was born in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. He had always wanted to be a writer, but according to his parent’s wishes, he attended law school. However, he gave it up after a while and roamed around the world as a hippie. He then returned to Brazil and worked as a songwriter, collaborating with iconic Brazilian personalities like Raul Seixas. In 1986, he took part in the 500 mile Road of Santiago de Compostela. During this pilgrimage, he experienced a spiritual awakening. After this, he gave up songwriting and returned to his first love, writing.