The Fifth Mountain

Date of Reading: 23/01/2007

Author: Paulo Coelho

Publisher: Harper Collins with India Today Group

Place: New Delhi

Year: 2005

          This is a re-telling of the life of Prophet Elijah in Bible. Time is ninth century B.C.; 23 year old Elijah of Gilead, hears voices and has visions. When Jezebel, the Phoenician princess wed to King Ahab, orders all to worship Baal or be executed, he listens to an angel and flees to Akbar where a widow and her son shelter him.

          Akbar is a Phoenician city and the high priest there regards him as the fit gift to the queen when the time comes. When the widow's son dies, Elijah raises him with the help of God; he falls in love too with the widow. Then the Assyrians come to attack Tyre and Cydon, but they have to pass through Akbar. High priest rejects their proposal of peace disregarding the protests of Elijah and the governor.

          Though Elijah tries to escape with the widow and the son, God stops him on the way. Widow gets killed in the attack and the city is completely destroyed. Elijah and the widow's son gathers the people together and rebuilds it again.

          Elijah returns to Israel; and widow's son is elected as the new governor of Akbar. Now it is a part of Lebanon.

Rating: Excellent

Lines I Liked:

          "God is all-powerful. If He limited Himself to doing only that which we call good we could not call Him the Almighty".

          "There are moments when tribulations occur in our lives, and we cannot avoid them. But they are there for some reason. Only when we have overcome them do we understand why they were there".

          "Sometimes it was necessary to struggle with God".

          "There are moments when God demands obedience. But there are moments in which He wishes to test our will and challenges us to understand his love".