WACT Book Club | December 2026

The Pilgrimage  – Paulo Coehlo (288 pages)

The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho is a spiritual travel narrative inspired by Coelho’s journey along the road to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Blending memoir, allegory, and philosophical reflection, the book follows a quest for wisdom that would later shape the themes of The Alchemist: destiny, discipline, faith, and the search for meaning. It is less a conventional travel book than a symbolic journey through doubt, ritual, and self-discovery.

A spiritual journey across Spain that asks what we are really seeking when we travel.

Author’s Biography

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist best known internationally for The Alchemist. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, he has written fiction shaped by spirituality, symbolism, and the search for personal meaning. His experience walking the road to Santiago became the basis for The Pilgrimage.

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