The Devil and Miss Prym

THE DEVIL AND MISS PRYM by Paul Cohelo is one of those books with a hook that draws you in and keeps you reading. The hook in this particular case is the ongoing fight between good and evil with a bit of devilish temptation and fear thrown in for good measure. In the small dying village of Viscos old Berta has sat in front of her home for years carrying on conversations with her long-dead husband and awaiting the arrival of THE DEVIL. One day she sees a stranger entering the village with the devil by his side. This stranger is a man with a tragic history who is searching for closure and an answer to the question "is a man truly good or evil". He places temptation in the form of 11 bars of gold within the reach of the villagers in return for an answer to his question. A local barmaid named Chantal Prym is enlisted as an accomplice in the stranger's quest for answers and becomes a central figure in the story as she battles her own inner demons. Old Berta, the town's mayor and his wife and a rogue wolf are also prominent characters in the tale whose plot will not be further explored lest it ruins the revelations for each individual reader. Suffice to say that the story microscopically scrutinizes the fact that we all have choices to make in our daily lives, that actions have consequences and ultimately that the good and evil dwells within each of us and it's up to each person to decide which will emerge triumphantly. While the plotline of the story may be simple, sometimes simple ideas are the most complex as illustrated by many of the stories in the Bible. Cohelo has given us a moralistic tale where metaphors abound and has provided his readers with a literal banquet of food for thought