Needing to 'heal' himself from this setback, Coelho set out to leave Rio de Janeiro with his wife and spent 40 days in the Mojave Desert. Despite its having sold 'well,' the publisher after a year decided to give Coelho back the rights. The Alchemist was first released by Rocco, an obscure Brazilian publishing house. The advice given to Santiago that 'when you really want something to happen, the whole universe will conspire so that your wish comes true' is the core of the novel's philosophy and a motif that plays throughout it. The book's main theme is about finding one's destiny, although according to The New York Times, The Alchemist is 'more self-help than literature'. He explained that he was able to write at this pace because the story was 'already written in soul.' When he begins digging within sight of the pyramids, he is robbed yet again, but accidentally learns from the leader of the thieves that the treasure he sought was all along in the ruined church where he had his original dream.Д¬oelho wrote The Alchemist in only two weeks in 1987. Together, they risk a journey through the territory of warring tribes, where Santiago is forced to demonstrate his oneness with 'the soul of the world' by turning himself into a dust storm before he is allowed to proceed. The boy then encounters a wise alchemist, who teaches him to realize his true self. Frustrated at first, he later learns that true love will not stop nor must one sacrifice one's destiny to it, since to do so robs it of truth. She promises to marry him only after he completes his journey.

When they reach an oasis, Santiago meets and falls in love with an Arabian girl named Fatima, to whom he proposes marriage. Santiago then has to work for a crystal merchant so to earn enough to get to the pyramids.ДЄlong the way, the boy meets an Englishman who has come in search of an alchemist and continues his travels with his new companion. Early on his arrival in Africa, a man who claims to be able to take Santiago to the pyramids instead robs him of the money he had made from his flock. The woman interprets it as a prophecy, telling the boy that he will discover a treasure at the Egyptian pyramids.ДЄfter Santiago sets out, he meets an old king Melchizedek, or the king of Salem, who tells him to sell his sheep so as to travel to Egypt and accomplish his 'Personal Legend'.

An Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago consults a Gypsy fortune-teller about the meaning of a recurring dream.

The alchemist cookbook wiki