"The devil and Miss Prym" sees a stranger coming to Viscos. A stranger possessed with the devil who is determined to find out the nature of a human being within the layers of honesty, dignity and simplicity. He chooses Viscos because it was a remote place with a meager population; everyone knew everyone else and everyone interfered in the other's business. They were all a perfect image of innocence and virtue.

"Life can either be very short or very long, according to how you live it"

Very precisely true - the gist of life itself. This is Paulo Coelho for all of us.

The writer is a spiritual regenerator, who has more messages in his books than characters. He doesn't waste his time in explicit plots, and character descriptions but is more inclined towards the subtle lessons in life, we all learn the hard way, lessons of love, hate, selfishness, greed, fear, cowardice, power and death. Hence, the queer questions which arise in every human's heart. What is the real nature of humans? Are they good or evil? Can a human break the Ten Commandments for ten pieces of gold?

"The devil and Miss Prym" sees a stranger coming to Viscos. A stranger possessed with the devil who is determined to find out the nature of a human being within the layers of honesty, dignity and simplicity. He chooses Viscos because it was a remote place with a meager population; everyone knew everyone else and everyone interfered in the other's business. They were all a perfect image of innocence and virtue. And he wanted to know whether they could break the most important of the Ten Commandants -'thou shalt not kill" or not.

The most ironic part is that this stranger who calls himself Carlos was himself a victim of the injustice of life. He lived a life of honesty and peace, abiding by all the rules and completing his responsibilities. But one day, his world comes crashing down when his daughter and wife die in an attack. He experiences an emotional break down - in complete silence. Questions about his life kept on haunting him, nudging him, burning him to the extent of giving him a mental trauma - why did it happen to him? And if the story of one man is the story of all men, should they all be good or should they all be evil?

He decided to find the answers to his questions and to know whether it was just his harsh fate and that good might occur to other people, or it was a bad and selfish world altogether.

Carlos notices Chantal Prym, a young barmaid and decides to make her his collaborator, someone who could pass his message to the villagers. He shows her eleven pieces of gold and also shows her the hiding place and then explains to her his plan. He has planned to offer the villagers 10 pieces of gold, if they could kill one of the villagers of their choice and hence break one of the Ten Commandments.

This was a dilemma Chantal has not been anticipating. The Village had never experienced such a thing ever. The people were naive and innocent and unbeknown to such complexities of life as great money, great success, and great technology. They were simple people through and through.

Carlos is prepared for all her questions. If she refuses, he would propose the offer to someone else from the village and if the villagers accept his offer, they would automatically choose Chantal for the one to be murdered.

If she chose to steal the one piece of gold he had offered her (and also shown her its hiding place), it would mean that she had broken another one of the Ten Commandments - 'Thou shalt not steal' . Hence, he would be assured of the true nature of humans.

Deep inside, the stranger was trying to prove that "given the right set of circumstances, every human being on this earth would be willing to commit evil".

So ensues a moral dilemma and a spiritual struggle between good and evil that would impact on everyone in the village. When Chantal passes the message of Carlos to everyone, they initially blame her. For although they know Chantal has nothing to do with it, they want to put the blame on someone.

As the book progresses, we come across some beautifully inserted messages and questions and the answers which we all grope for.

One of these stories is told by the stranger himself to the inhabitants of Viscos when Chantal is telling them about the stranger's proposal.

"When Leonardo Da Vinci was creating The Last Supper, he encountered a serious problem: he had to depict Good - in the person of Jesus - and Evil - in the figure of Judas, the friend who resolves to betray him during the meal. He stopped work on the painting until he could find his ideal models.

'One day, when he was listening to a choir, he saw in one of the boys the perfect image of Christ. He invited him to his studio and made sketches and studies of his face.

'Three years went by. The last supper was almost complete, but Leonardo had still not found the perfect model for Judas. The Cardinal responsible for the church started to put pressure on him to finish the mural.

'After many days spent vainly searching, the artist came across a prematurely aged youth, in rags and lying drunk in the gutter. With some difficulty, he persuaded his assistants to bring the fellow directly to the church, since there was no time left to make preliminary sketches.

'The beggar was taken there, not quite understanding what was going on. He was propped up by Leonardo's assistants, while Leonardo copied the lines of impiety and egotism so clearly etched on his features.

'When he finished, the beggar, who had sobered up slightly, opened his eyes and saw the picture before him. With a mixture of horror and sadness he said:

"I've seen that picture before!"

"When?" asked an astonished Leonardo.

"Three years ago, before I lost everything I had, at a time when I used to sing in a choir and my life was full of dreams. The artist asked me to pose as the model for the face of Jesus"'.

The stranger was trying to say that Good and Evil had the same face; it all depended on when they crossed the path of each individual human being.

Although Chantal thinks that this would pass away since the villagers were neither greedy nor craved to change their atmosphere, but to her utter astonishment, they get mesmerized by the 10 gold pieces from which they could change their lives altogether.

The book actually does depict the evil side of human beings coming out after hiding inside them for all their lives. The queerest part is that all of them are in it together! Even the respected priest who is the caretaker of the house of Christ. They call it a sacrifice, not a murder - sacrifice of the one person who would lead them to a graceful life in the future. They unanimously and ironically choose the one woman who had been sitting outside her home waiting for the Devil to come and who had known all along that the stranger was possessed by one.

The book tells so much so that when it ends, one is not completely able to comprehend the real meaning of the book itself. We find most of our questions unanswered, but flicking back to the earlier pages, we realize that all the answers to questions are deeply engraved in various parts of the book. It is just a matter of understanding them.

The best part of the book is easily the end and I would recommend this book to those who are looking for answers in their daily lives and are spiritually disturbed with their existence. It is also better to mark the parts one likes best so as to keep in touch with them later on and keep going to them until they securely pierce one's heart.

As to the stranger's question, the answer comes very precisely at the end in the following words:

"It is all a matter of control. And Choice. Nothing more and nothing less".
And I guess this is the answer to all our questions too.