{"product_id":"the-spy-isbn-9780525432791","title":"The Spy","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn his new novel, Paulo Coelho, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Alchemist\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAdultery\u003c\/i\u003e, brings to life one of history's most enigmatic women: Mata Hari. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHER ONLY CRIME WAS TO BE AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless.  Within months she was the most celebrated woman in the city. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e As a dancer, she shocked and delighted audiences; as a courtesan, she bewitched the era’s richest and most powerful men. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari’s lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917, she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees, and accused of espionage.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Told in Mata Hari’s voice through her final letter, \u003ci\u003eThe Spy\u003c\/i\u003e is the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to defy convention and who paid the ultimate price.\u003cb\u003ePraise for Paulo Coelho and \u003ci\u003eThe Spy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[\u003ci\u003eThe Spy\u003c\/i\u003e is a] masterful new novel.” \u003ci\u003e--Bookpage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Coelho, whose books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, has taken the Mata Hara story and fashioned it into a short dynamo of a novel.” --\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “A striking novel. . . . By the end, readers will believe they’ve read [Mata Hari’s] actual letters.” --\u003ci\u003ePublisher’s Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Coelho has created a portrait of an anachronistic woman, who was destroyed by her times and became a legend.” --\u003ci\u003ePaste Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “A novelist who writes in a universal language.” --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Spiritualists and wanderlusts will eagerly devour . . . [Coelho’s] search for all things meaningful.” --\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003ePAULO COELHO is the author of many international best sellers, including \u003ci\u003eThe Alchemist, Eleven Minutes, The Pilgrimage,\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Fifth Mountain,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAdultery\u003c\/i\u003e, among others. He has been a member of the Academy of Letters of Brazil since 2002 and in 2007 was named a Messenger of Peace by the United Nations. In 2003, he received the Guinness World Record for most translations of a single title (\u003ci\u003eThe Alchemist\u003c\/i\u003e) signed by the author in one sitting and several years later, in 2009, he received a new Guinness World Record for most translated author for the same book (also for \u003ci\u003eThe Alchemist\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Paulo Coelho’s books have been translated into 88 languages and have sold more than 320 million copies in more than 170 countries. His novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Alchemist\u003c\/i\u003e, one of the most influential books of all time, has sold more than 85 million copies and has been cited as an inspiration by people as diverse as Malala Yousafzai and Pharrell Williams. He has received numerous prestigious international awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award and the Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur, to name a few.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e www.paulocoelho.com\u003cbr\u003e paulocoelhoblog.com\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Connect with the author:\u003cbr\u003e facebook.com\/paulocoelho\u003cbr\u003e Twitter: @paulocoelhoPart I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDear Mr. Clunet,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI do not know what will happen at the end of this week. I have always been an optimistic woman, but time has left me bitter, alone, and sad.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf things turn out as I hope, you will never receive this letter. I’ll have been pardoned. After all, I spent my life cultivating influential friends. I will hold on to the letter so that, one day, my only daughter might read it to find out who her mother was.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut if I am wrong, I have little hope that these pages, which have consumed my last week of life on Earth, will be kept. I have always been a realistic woman and I know that, once a case is settled, a lawyer will move on to the next one without a backward glance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI can imagine what will happen after. You will be a very busy man, having gained notoriety defending a war criminal. You will have many people knocking at your door, begging for your services, for, even defeated, you attracted huge publicity. You will meet journalists interested to hear your version of events, you will dine in the city’s most expensive restaurants, and you will be looked upon with respect and envy by your peers. You will know there was never any concrete evidence against me—only documents that had been tampered with—but you will never publicly admit that you allowed an innocent woman to die.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInnocent? Perhaps that is not the right word. I was never innocent, not since I first set foot in this city I love so dearly. I thought I could manipulate those who wanted state secrets. I thought the Germans, French, English, Spanish would never be able to resist me—and yet, in the end, I was the one manipulated. The crimes I did commit, I escaped, the greatest of which was being an emancipated and independent woman in a world ruled by men. I was convicted of espionage even though the only thing concrete I traded was the gossip from high-society salons.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYes, I turned this gossip into “secrets,” because I wanted money and power. But all those who accuse me now know I never revealed anything new.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s a shame no one will know this. These envelopes will inevitably find their way to a dusty file cabinet, full of documents from other proceedings. Perhaps they will leave when your successor, or your successor’s successor, decides to make room and throw out old cases.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy that time, my name will have been long forgotten. But I am not writing to be remembered. I am attempting to understand things myself. Why? How is it that a woman who for so many years got everything she wanted can be condemned to death for so little?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt this moment, I look back at my life and realize that memory is a river, one that always runs backward.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMemories are full of caprice, where images of things we’ve experienced are still capable of suffocating us through one small detail or insignificant sound. The smell of baking bread wafts up to my cell and reminds me of the days I walked freely in the cafés. This tears me apart more than my fear of death or the solitude in which I now find myself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMemories bring with them a devil called melancholy—oh, cruel demon that I cannot escape. Hearing a prisoner singing, receiving a small handful of letters from admirers who were never among those who brought me roses and jasmine flowers, picturing a scene from some city I didn’t appreciate at the time. Now it’s all I have left of this or that country I visited.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe memories always win, and with them comes a demon that is even more terrifying than melancholy: remorse. It’s my only companion in this cell, except when the sisters decide to come and chat. They do not speak about God, or condemn me for what society calls my “sins of the flesh.” Generally, they say one or two words, and the memories spout from my mouth, as if I wanted to go back in time, plunging into this river that runs backward.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of them asked me:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If God gave you a second chance, would you do anything differently?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI said yes, but really, I do not know. All I know is that my current heart is a ghost town, one populated by passions, enthusiasm, loneliness, shame, pride, betrayal, and sadness. I cannot disentangle myself from any of it, even when I feel sorry for myself and weep in silence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI am a woman who was born at the wrong time and nothing can be done to fix this. I don’t know if the future will remember me, but if it does, may it never see me as a victim, but as someone who moved forward with courage, fearlessly paying the price she had to pay.","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300687728869,"sku":"NP9780525432791","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780525432791.jpg?v=1767741635","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-spy-isbn-9780525432791","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}