From the bestselling author of The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho, comes an absorbing new novel that holds a mirror up to our culture’s obsession with fame, glamour, and celebrity. This haunting, pulse-pounding psychological thriller explores the destructive power of jealousy, greed, and control.

Set in the exciting worlds of fashion and cinema, The Winner Stands Alone takes place over the course of twenty-four hours during the Cannes Film Festival. It is the story of Igor, a successful, driven Russian entrepreneur who will go to the darkest lengths to reclaim a lost love—his ex-wife, Ewa.

Believing that his life with Ewa was divinely ordained, Igor once told her that he would destroy whole worlds to get her back. As the novel unfolds, the conflict between an individual evil force and society emerges, and morality is derailed. Meet the players and poseurs behind the scenes at Cannes—the "Superclass" of producers, actors, designers, and supermodels, as well as the aspiring starlets and jaded hangers-on.

Paulo Coelho uses his twelfth novel to paint an engrossing picture of a world overrun by glamour and excess, showing us the possibly dire consequences of our obsession with fame.