'A community devoured by greed, cowardice and fear. A man persecuted by the ghosts of his painful past. A young woman searching for happiness. In one eventful week, each of then will face questions of life, death and power, and each of them will have to choose their own path. Will they choose good or evil?

The remote village of Viscos is the setting for this extraordinary struggle. A stranger arrives, carrying with him a backpack containing a notebook and eleven gold bars. He comes searching for the answer to a question that torments him: are human beings, in essence, good or evil? In welcoming the mysterious foreigner, the whole village becomes an accomplice to his sophisticated plot, which will forever mark their lives.'

A great read, one of my favourite of the 1001 books so far. A real moral challenge with a sad story at heart but with a very justified ending, lovely.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent along to the winner of Em-bob/Wibba's sweepstakes. Congratulations! xx

Thank you very much Danielle. How nice to come home to a parcel. I love surprises like that. :-)

This book looks really intriguing. I don't think it will be long before I read it.

By p.96 I really wanted to give up on this book. I don't really like dissing a book that's been passed on to me by someone who usually shares similar reading tastes with me but I hated this.

The only real thought provoking part for me was p.34 about dreams and what can hold us back from achieving them, but that's a pretty generic message which can be found in a daily horoscope, angel card reading or feel-good Hollywood blockbuster.

It was one dimensional reading. It seemed to be the author pressing his point via a thinly disguised sermon throughout. I can only think that it's been an international best-seller because churches have recommended their 'flock' buy it.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending as a RABCK to someone who sent me a book from my wishlist at Christmas, one of my first BC gifts.

I'm really interested to know what you think of this book. Does whether you like it, to some extent, depend upon the strength of your feeling for organised religion?

Arrived today. Thanks very much. Planning to put this into a 1001 Book Box whenever it arrives. I'm very drawn to the front cover of this book for some reason, looks mysterious yet calming.

The story is by no means unique, I've seen it in many a film or read it in some other variation. The optimist in me will always want to believe that I would never wish to gain something that made someone else suffer. I've never been brought up in a religious household, I find the concept of a sinner to be very alien. To be told that you are a sinner and can only be saved by God seems such a cruel concept to me. I think this story will be useful for people reading it for the first time, how it will influence them, time will tell.

Still planning on saving this for a 1001 book box. :)

Going into jsmeltser's 1001 Book Box, should be travelling sometime next week.

Pulled from my 1001 bookbox.