The Alchemist (Portuguese: O Alquimista) is a novel by Paulo Coelho first published in the year 1988. Originally written in Portuguese by its Brazilian-born author, it has been translated into at least 56 languages as of September 2012. An allegorical novel, The Alchemist follows a young Andalusian shepherd named Santiago in his journey to Egypt, after having a recurring dream of finding treasure there.

The book is an international bestseller. According to AFP, it has sold more than 65 million copies in 56 different languages, becoming one of the best-selling books in history and setting the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author

Plot

The Alchemist follows the journey of an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago. Santiago, believing a recurring dream to be prophetic, decides to travel to a Romani in a nearby town to discover its meaning. A gypsy woman tells him that there is a treasure in the Pyramids in Egypt.

Early into his journey, he meets an old king, Melchizedek, who tells him to sell his sheep to travel to Egypt and introduces the idea of a Personal Legend (which is always capitalized in the book). Your Personal Legend "is what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is".He adds that "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it". This is the core theme of the book.

Along the way, he meets an Englishman and continues his travel with him. They traveled through The Sahara desert and during his journey, he meets a beautiful Arabian woman named Fatima, whom he falls in love with. He then asked Fatima to marry him, but she says she will only marry him after he finds his treasures. He is perplexed by this, but later learns that true love will not stop one's Personal Legend, and if it does, it is not true love.

Santiago then encounters a lone alchemist who also teaches him about Personal Legends. He says that people want to find only the treasure of their Personal Legends but not the Personal Legend itself. Santiago feels unsure about himself as he listens to the alchemist's teachings. The alchemist states: "Those who don't understand their Personal Legends will fail to comprehend its teachings". It is also stated that treasure is more worthy than gold.