The Devil and Miss Prym Book Summary

• Moral courage is a daily practice born from small choices.
• Temptation often arrives disguised as opportunity, and exposes what we value most.

This is a concise The Devil and Miss Prym book summary for readers who want the moral core without spoilers. Coelho’s fable follows a stranger who arrives with gold bars and a proposition: if the village commits a murder in seven days, the gold is theirs. Chantal Prym becomes the reluctant conscience, and the battleground, of the community.

What does this book talk about? It explores temptation, collective fear, and the anatomy of moral courage through a high-stakes ethical trial. Why is it important? Because it spotlights how ordinary people rationalize choices under pressure, making it a piercing mirror for our daily compromises.

• Shows how incentives reframe ethics, and how communities rationalize harm.
• Reveals that fear, not evil, often drives immoral acts.
• Frames goodness as a practice forged by repeated choices, not perfection.
• Invites introspection ideal for discussion and personal growth.

1. Chapter 1 – A stranger arrives with gold and a proposition.
2. Chapter 2 – Chantal Prym learns the offer: one murder for wealth.
3. Chapter 3 – The village’s history and fear of scarcity surface.
4. Chapter 4 – Chantal wrestles with conscience and her own ambitions.
5. Chapter 5 – The stranger frames the experiment: seven days to decide.
6. Chapter 6 – Rumors spread; villagers expose hidden resentments.
7. Chapter 7 – The priest and elders debate moral absolutes vs. survival.
8. Chapter 8 – Temptation grows as personal debts and dreams arise.
9. Chapter 9 – Chantal seeks counsel, testing faith and reason.
10. Chapter 10 – The stranger escalates pressure; fear takes root.
11. Chapter 11 – Factions form; some plan, others resist.
12. Chapter 12 – Chantal faces her own capacity for betrayal.
13. Chapter 13 – A near-violence episode reveals the village’s fault lines.
14. Chapter 14 – Conscience reasserts itself; a risky counterplan emerges.
15. Chapter 15 – The final choice exposes the true cost of goodness.

Author Bio

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist known for weaving spirituality and philosophy into stories that feel both magical and real. His life took a turn after a soul searching walk along the Camino de Santiago, which inspired his first book The Pilgrimage and soon after, ‘The Alchemist’ a story that captured hearts everywhere. Over the years, his books have sold more than 165 million copies and found readers in over 80 languages.With his gentleand reflective style, Coelho continues to move people who are still searching for meaning, hope, and purpose in their life.
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