
To her surprise, Veronika finds herself drawn to the confinement of Villete and its patients, who, each in his or her individual way, reflect the heart of human experience. However, as typically befalls me when I read a book by Paolo Coelho, I seem to recall a moment about four-fifths of the way to the end when I had an epiphanic moment - when I realised that although I had loathed the book from the start until that exact sentence, I suddenly understood it and could comprehend and possibly even accept though grudgingly that other people could like it and that it could possibly qualify as a Good Book. The king and the queen drank the water of madness and immediately began talking nonsense.