The Fifth Mountain centers on Elijah who realizes that his destiny is not being chosen by him but by God and ultimately, he decides to abide by his own desires and will.
The Valkyries is autobiographical, but told from the third person. It deals with the exorcism of personal demons and discovering one's strength. It also deals with relationships among people, in this case, Paulo and his wife.
The Paulo Coelho collection comprises 10 books.
The Alchemist details the journey of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago.
Veronika Decides to Die is about a young, beautiful Slovenian woman who appears to have the perfect life, but nevertheless decides to commit suicide by ingesting too many sleeping pills. While she waits to die, she decides to read a magazine.
The Witch of Portobello is about a woman born in Transylvania to a Romani mother, who is orphaned and later adopted by a wealthy Lebanese couple.
The Devil and Miss Prym tries to find an answer to the question: "Are people bad?".
By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept is essentially a story about love. It also includes elements of paganism; in particular it focuses on the female aspect of divinity.
The Pilgrimage is a recollection of Paulo's experiences as he made his way across Northern Spain on the Pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela in 1986.
The Zahir is about a pilgrimage. The book touches on themes of love, loss and obsession. The story is extremely autobiographical but is intended as a work of fiction.
Eleven Minutes focuses on Maria, a young girl from a remote village of Brazil, with innocent brushes from love failures at an early adolescent stage and hatred for love goes to seek her fortune in Switzerland, only to find that reality is lot harder than she expected.