The Witch of Portobello

Who was Athena? Born to a Roma mother in Transylvania, adopted by a wealthy Lebanese couple, and raised in London, Sherine "Athena" Khalil was many things to many people: a devoted mother, a bank employee, a dancer, a teacher, and — to some — a dangerous heretic and witch.

Told through the collected testimonies of the people who knew and loved her, Paulo Coelho's novel assembles her portrait piece by piece from clashing points of view. As Athena pursues an intense spiritual awakening and gathers followers drawn to her teachings about the sacred feminine and the divine Mother, she provokes both devotion and fear, and moves toward a reckoning that each witness remembers differently.

A layered meditation on identity, faith, motherhood, and the price of following an unconventional path.