The Zahir: A Novel of Obsession

The Zahir is a novel written by the renowned Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. The book was first published in 2005 in Persian in Iran, although the book was inexplicably and abruptly banned there some short months following its release. The Zahir has been translated into more than forty different languages since its initial publication. According to Coelho, “Zahir, in Arabic, means visible, present, incapable of going unnoticed. It is someone or something which, once we have come into contact with them or it, gradually occupies our every thought, until we can think of nothing else. This can be considered either a state of holiness or of madness.” The book is a pilgrimage of love and loss—a journey which yields self-discovery and spiritual growth.

An unnamed protagonist, a world-famous author who closely resembles Coelho, narrates the story as he attempts to find his wife, Esther, who has disappeared from their Paris home without explanation. A worldwide best-selling writer, the narrator is wealthy and well known. Either his wife has been abducted or she has abandoned him. When the narrator reports his wife’s disappearance, the police detain him on suspicion of foul play. The narrator’s mistress arrives and provides him with an alibi, securing his release.

Once he is released, the narrator is obsessed with finding his wife and uncovering the truth: his zahir. Filled with guilt, he reflects on his life before he met his wife, and how her faith and support enabled his success as an emerging writer. In his search for answers, the narrator finds that many of Esther’s things are missing, including her passport, which leads him to believe that she has indeed left him and the country.



To distract himself from the lingering sense of guilt and loss, the narrator begins a new affair with Marie, a beautiful, young actor. The restoration of a cathedral serves as his inspiration for a new novel, an emotionally charged work largely about his love for Esther. During the book launch and signing, the narrator encounters Mikhail, one of Esther’s closest friends with whom he suspects she has been sleeping. He learns that Esther has been working as a war correspondent, even though he had protested against this. This information forces him to grapple with Esther’s growing unhappiness during their marriage. He consults with his lover, Marie, who encourages him to find out more from Mikhail, although she distrusts him for being a mad and unwell man.

During their previous talks, the narrator had learned that Mikhail attends weekly philanthropic meetings in a local restaurant in order to swap stories with homeless people. Mikhail, a schizophrenic epileptic, shares about “The Voice” that advises him. When the narrator attempts to convince Mikhail to reveal Esther’s location, Mikhail has an epileptic episode and departs suddenly. He shows up again, this time with Marie. During this meeting, Mikhail metaphorically compares marriage with train tracks, drawing the connection that while the two parallel lines seem to infinitely follow one another, they are connected in destination rather than in actuality. He convinces Mikhail to tell him the address of Esther’s location; however, Mikhail warns that “The Voice” says the timing for their encounter is not now. As the narrator departs to find Esther the next morning, he gets into an accident, which he takes as an affirmation of Mikhail’s warning.

Sometime later, the protagonist determines that now is the time to find Esther. Having done some self-reckoning and spiritual growth, he believes that their meeting will have a peaceful sense of purpose and closure. Accepting that their marriage is over and that she is happier living apart from him, he still wishes to have the conversation—to have closure.



Esther brought Mikhail to France from Kazakhstan, and Mikhail brought Esther to Kazakhstan. The narrator and Mikhail set out for Kazakhstan together. They contact Dos, whose grandfather has been a spiritual advisor to Esther, helping her to process her life and understand her personality. He asks the narrator to re-name himself as a gesture to this episode of his life and to commemorate his character growth; the narrator chooses the name “nobody,” a reference to James Joyce’s Ulysses.

The narrator and Mikhail discover that Esther has been teaching French and learning to make fine carpets. Finally, the two meet, and “nobody” learns that Dos is Esther’s lover and she is pregnant with his baby. Sharing that she has been asked to write as a correspondent once more, her former husband tries to persuade her to stay safe due to her present condition. Ignoring his advice, she asks for a horse so that she might leave. Esther leaves once more, setting out to pursue her own zahir.