The Miracle of Yousef by Goncalo Coelho
A man washes up more dead than alive on the shores of a sun-dazzled Aegean Isle. His memory has been wiped absolutely clean. Who is he? Where is he from? A battered man with no past, a survivor.
In a heavenly awakening he meets the lovely and beguiling Nefise, and instantly falls hopelessly in love. Through a series of idyllic and tumultuous encounters on the shores of this Turkish island the two grope towards the threshold of a new life together… until suddenly one bright morning hell opens up beneath them.
Meet Yousef Al-Khaled, a lover, a man of profound tenderness, sensitivity and passion … and the world’s most wanted terrorist.
In a kaleidoscopic odyssey through the darkest moments of our era, from bomb-smashed caves in the Afghan mountains to the hot streets of Jeddah, from London’s glitter to the sorrows of New York, from frenzied Balkan escapes to the wild labyrinth of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar and a desperate standoff beneath the murky waters of the Bosporus, Yousef races unstoppably towards his fate – until it seizes him once and for all.
A thriller entwined in a spiritual journey, historical novel, and all-encompassing love story, this is the tragic tale of a great sinner, “the happiest man in the world,” in a pilgrimage beyond fundamentalist violence and hatred to discover another Islam, the Islam we seldom if ever hear about.
Description
Find more from this author on:
About the author:
Gonçalo Coelho was born in Oeiras, Portugal in 1978. He lived in the cities of Lisbon and Oporto in Portugal, Brighton in the UK and São Bento do Sul in Brazil. Currently he resides in Berlin, the German capital. These experiences fill in his literary space characterized by cultural diversity and a willingness to provide readers with different perspectives and facets of the world we live in. He graduated with the degree of Master of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sussex in 2000 but remained forever faithful to his passion for literature. In 2008 he published his first novel entitled Poker. He has published short stories and several articles for the Portuguese press. The Miracle of Yousef is his second novel and the first yet to be translated to English.
Here is a short sample from the book:
PROLOGUE
March 2002
An island somewhere in the Mediterranean
When the mysterious shipwreck survivor awoke, he breathed in air that was mild and damp. The first thing his eyes took in was the magnificent blue immensity of the sky, enhanced by the sound of the waves on the shore, a perfect alchemy to allay the aches of mind and body. In the heart of this idyllic universe a woman’s voice emerged, as harmonious as the song of sparrows on a sunny spring morning.
“Merhaba! Welcome back to the land of the living!”
The survivor gave no reply or any sign of having heard these words spoken in a melody and language he did not recognize. In his mind it must not have sounded so different from the murmur of the sea embracing the sandy beach with small foaming waves. He took in only the wonder of it all, like someone hearing a symphony without distinguishing any particular instrument. His soul was in the purest and lightest state that it is given to men to experience. As pure and light as though he had been allowed to experience with the mind of an adult what it is to be born into this world. At that moment, in his world, there was neither past nor future. There was no notion of time, or fear, or guilt or ambition. He was completely unaware that at that precise moment he was being avidly hunted down. All of that had dissolved in his memory like sugar in water that has been vigorously stirred. If, at that moment, he had been capable of grasping through reason the notion of birth itself, surely he would have thought that this was exactly what he was: a new-born child.
As his eyes adjusted to the light, discerning the various shapes around him, the survivor gazed at each object with growing curiosity, as though he were seeing everything for the first time. Another way to classify his condition would be to say that he was in the clinical state of a perfect idiot. Indeed, this was precisely his demeanor. His apparent idiocy, however, gave rise both to an enormous curiosity regarding everything around him, as well as, in the same measure, an immense delight in simply being and feeling, with the unbounded tranquility of people who are very happy. He felt this pleasure in gazing at the sky and feeling himself mingling with the clouds in the midst of the blue vastness, and flying among them, as though his soul were bound to something far greater than himself. At the same time, the girl at his side – the first human being upon whom he set his eyes after this rebirth – was also imprinted forever in his soul as a divine creature. The recollection of this powerful state of the spirit was never to leave him, and would change his existence forever. Right then and there he was born into a new life.
Related products
-
Kydona by Thomas Krug
Named for heaven, the kingdom of Elessia once served as a beacon to the world. Now its name has become a byword for decadence. When Lord Prince Marcus hears the beginnings of a vast conspiracy from the lips of his dying mother, he sets out to uncover the motives lurking behind the war his father waged. With the help of Kaelyn—a sharp-tongued courtesan nursing a long-hidden desire—and Vernon de Gauthier—a near-disturbingly prolific womanizer with a weakness for apples—Marcus slowly unearths the truth: his country lies on the brink of collapse. And soon, the vanquished nation of Kydona will rise to settle a generation-old score.
In Elessia’s debauched court, the threat goes unheeded. Marcus’s romances bloom and just as quickly wither. Blood is shed, lives extinguished. It matters little. Quarrel and murder, lust and love, right and wrong—the lines that separate these are hopelessly blurred in the throes of court intrigue. And the difference between each rests on a knife edge so sharp that even a hero cannot tell them apart.
Shadows of Asphodel by Karen Kincy
When Ardis discovers a man bleeding to death on the battlefield, she knows she has to walk away.
1913. In her work as a mercenary for Austria-Hungary, Ardis has killed many men without hesitation. One more man shouldn’t matter, even if he manages to be a charming bastard while he stands dying in the snow.
But when he raises the dead to fight for him, she realizes she must save his life.
If a necromancer like Wendel dies, he will return as a monster–or so the rumors say. Ardis decides to play it safe and rescues him. What she doesn’t expect is Wendel falling to one knee and swearing fealty. Ardis never asked for the undying loyalty of a necromancer, but it’s too late now.
Ardis and Wendel forge an uneasy alliance underscored with sexual tension. Together, they confront rebels, assassins, and a conspiracy involving a military secret: robotically-enhanced soldiers for a world on the brink of war. But as Ardis starts to fall for Wendel, she realizes the scars from his past run more deeply than she ever imagined. Can Ardis stop Wendel before his thirst for revenge destroys him and everyone else around him?
Saving Grace by Norah Wilson
After wrecking her car and waking in hospital with amnesia, fledgling reporter Grace Morgan has no idea why she’d been in the process of leaving the husband she loves so dearly. Her husband, Police Detective Ray (Razor) Morgan tells her she was leaving him for another man, but that just can’t be so. Can it? She’s determined to remember, even if it kills her. And it just might. When bullets start to fly, Ray is forced to take the wife he believes faithless on the lam until they can figure out who is trying to kill them.
Bride of Dunloch (Highland Loyalties Trilogy, Volume 1) by Veronica Bale @VeronicaBale1
Author Veronica Bale’s debut novel, Bride of Dunloch, is a gripping story of love and conflict in the time of the first Scottish War of Independence, and of one young girl’s struggle to determine for herself what is right and what is wrong.
In the watery grey light of a late spring dawn, two forces meet to oppose one another at the main gate of Dunloch Castle, an imposing structure nestled deep in the Scottish Highlands. On the attacking side are the MacGillivrays—a clan dispossessed of its ancestral lands and home because its members would not swear loyalty to the English King Edward the First. Dunloch is theirs, and they will take it back—by any means necessary.
So is the world in which Jane Sewell, a young and naive English girl of noble birth whose hand has been given away in marriage, finds herself. It is a land that is as bloody and brutal as it is beautiful. But when she stumbles upon a wounded Scottish warrior from the enemy MacGillivray clan, her compassionate nature will not allow her to abandon him. Against her better judgement, she resolves to help him in secret.
As tensions at Dunloch intensify, however, Jane finds herself torn between her duty—and her heart. For in these Scottish Highlands, loyalties can change as quickly as the weather …
The Impossible Lover Book 1 of the GrailChase Chronicles by Dara Fogel
When Imperialist tool, Lt. Colonel Christopher Jordan Haldane goes to Italy to negotiate a shady mining deal, he finds himself inadvertently drawn into a turf war between the scions of the Illuminati and the Grail Guardians over an ancient castle guarding forbidden secrets and technology. Can Haldane solve the riddle of Villa D'Amici and his own strange paranormal experiences without losing his mind or the woman he loves?
A sexy, existential romp through archetypes, conspiracy theories and alternate realities.
“The DaVinci Code meets Steampunk, with Dune flavor crystals”
#1 Bestselling Free Steampunk Ebook and #1 Bestselling Free Metaphysical and Spiritual Ebook on Amazon
Uniting the Clans (Highland Loyalties Trilogy, Volume 2) by Veronica Bale
Author Veronica Bale continues her debut trilogy with the anticipated second volume in the Highland Loyalties series.
Robert MacGillivray, chief of Clan Gillivray and outlaw, has fled his former home of Dunloch Castle to avoid capture by Lord Reginald D’Aubrey, the English baron who has sworn to bring him down. His departure leaves the young and naive Jane Sewell, Robbie’s love … and Lord Reginald’s English bride, vulnerable.
Day after day Jane waits for word of Robbie, growing more and more despondent when nothing is to be heard – until the day that Robert MacGillivray resurfaces in a bold and daring move to reunite and strengthen his clan.
What does this bold move mean for Jane? Will her loyalties remain with Lord Reginald as her husband, or will she find them swaying towards Robbie once more?
The Music of Us by Uvi Poznansky
In 1970, Lenny can no longer deny that his wife is undergoing a profound change. Despite her relatively young age, her mind succumbs to forgetfulness. Now, he goes as far back as the moment he met Natasha during WWII, when he was a wounded warrior and she—a star, brilliant yet illusive. Natasha was a riddle to him then, and to this day, with all the changes she has gone through, she still is.
“Digging into the past, mining its moments, trying to piece them together this way and that, dusting off each memory of Natasha, of how we were, the highs and lows of the music of us, to find out where the problem may have started?”
To their son, Ben, that may seem like an exercise in futility. For Lenny, it is a necessary process of discovery, one that is as tormenting as it is delightful. He often wonders: can we ever understand, truly understand each other—soldier and musician, man and woman, one heart and another? Will we ever again dance together to the same beat? Is there a point where we may still touch?
This is a WWII romance going back and forth between England to the US, touching upon the plight of war brides. It is a wounded warrior romance, which can be read as a standalone novel as well as part of one of family sagas best sellers. Still Life with Memories is a family saga series tinged with family saga romance, fraught with marital issues, and wrapped with a second chance at love.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.