Here is one of those rare books that comes along every decade or so and that readers of all ages fall in love with. It is the story of a shepherd boy who yearns to travel and ends up risking everything to pursue his destiny. A charming fable about following your dreams listening to your heart and reading life s omens. Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic universally admired. Paulo Coelho s charming fable now available in English for the first time will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come. The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist. The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us as only a few stories have done about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts learning to read the omens strewn along life s path and above all following our dreams.