Paulo Coelho - Aleph

Brida

The Winner Stands Alone

Translation copyright © 2011 by Margaret Jull Costa

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by

Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.aaknopf.com

Originally published in Brazil as O Aleph by Sextante, Rio de Janeiro, in 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Paulo Coelho.

Map by John Gilkes

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Coelho, Paulo.

[Aleph. English]

Aleph / by Paulo Coelho; translated by Margaret Jull Costa.—1st American ed.

p. cm.

“This is a Borzoi book.”

eISBN: 978-0-307-95701-6

I. Costa, Margaret Jull. II. Title.

PQ9698.13.O3546A4413 2011

869.3′42—dc22 2011021088

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Jacket design by Katya Mezhibovskaya.

v3.1

Author’s note: Immediately after the talk, I sought out the man with the mustache. His name was Christian Dhellemmes. Afterward, we exchanged a few e-mails but never met again face-to-face. He died on July 19, 2009, in Tarbes, France.