Before the beginning of the actual narrative, the author includes a dedication to an older gentleman whom he met accidentally and who told him how his books had positively influenced his life. He also includes two brief poems. One is a story from the Christian Bible (Luke 7:37-47) in which Jesus blesses a sinful woman for anointing him with oil. The other is the inscription to goddess Isis, describing her as both a “prostitute” and angelically pure.

Coelho begins and ends the book with the fairy tale phrase “Once upon a time,” implying a child-like fairy tale, the tone of which is belied by the second half of that sentence, “there was a prostitute named Maria” (1). The author considers the contradictory nature of the idea of a children’s story that discusses a sex worker but says that every good story is part fantasy and part real, so he keeps that beginning. He tells the story of 11-year-old Maria, who walks to school in the little Brazilian village where she lives every day. Walking along the way with her is an unnamed boy. She falls in love with this little boy and hopes he will speak to her.