From bestselling author and international sensation Paulo Coelho, a novel set in a small village about a young poor barmaid whose wager with the devil leads to a spiritual transformation. In this new novel by the bestselling author of The Alchemist, the remote village of Viscos is the setting for an extraordinary struggle between good an evil. A stranger arrives, carrying with him a backpack containing a notebook and eleven gold bars. He comes searching for the answer to a question that torments him: Are human beings, in essence, good or evil? In welcoming the mysterious foreigner, the whole village becomes an accomplice to his sophisticated plot, which will forever mark their lives.