John Fowles_6 Titles (includ. 'The Collector')

He tells the story first—Frederick Clegg, an obscure little clerk and a collector of butterflies who one day goes on to net his finest specimen, Miss Miranda Grey, a soft, lovely twenty-year-old. In his colorless yet curiously expressive words, he tells of the months in which he stood by the office window and watched for the beautiful Miranda whenever she was home from art school. Then Frederick Clegg suddenly wins a fortune in a football pool and devises an ingenious way to make his dream come true: I thought, I can’t get to know her in the ordinary way, but if she’s with me, she’ll see my good points, she’ll understand. There was always the idea she would understand. I only wanted to do the best for her, make her happy and love me a bit. He buys a secluded country house and, when all preparations have been made, kidnaps Miranda from outside her apartment in London. The body of the novel concerns the two months during which Miranda is held prisoner in the cellar of the house. The story is revealed first as he tells it, then as she secretly records it in a diary which begins: It’s the seventh night. Deep down I get more and more frightened. It’s only surface calm. Waking up is the worse thing. I wake and for a moment I think I’m home or at Caroline’s. Then it hits me. I don’t care what he does. So long as I live. It’s all the vile unspeakable things he could do. Power. It’s so real. Try try try to escape. It’s all I can think of. A remarkable feat of imagination, “The Collector” is a novel of disquieting perception whose cumulative effect is all too memorable.



Daniel Martin's (1977) eponymous protagonist returns to England after a sojourn in Hollywood -- and sets out to rectify the sins and omissions of his past.



The Ebony Tower is a series of novellas, rich in imagery, exploring the nature of art. In the title story, a journalist visiting a celebrated but reclusive painter is intrigued by the elderly artist's relationship with two beautiful young women. John Fowles reputation as a master storyteller was further advanced by this collection, which echoed themes and preoccupations from his other books.



The story of a woman wronged, depicted against an unrelenting Victorian England. Set in Lyme Regis in 1867, it is shot through with authorial comment and insight to provide a critique of the Victorian novel.



"A Maggot" is not a historical novel in the normal sense. It begins as a quirk or obsession (a 'maggot' in the archaic sense of the word) which finds its setting in the second wave of Protestant Dissent in England. It takes shape as a mystery - a compelling investigation of unaccountable motives and deeds - which leads through beguiling pathos to a startling vision at its centre, and an elision into real history.



A man trapped in a millionare's deadly game of political and sexual betrayal.

Filled with shocks and chilling surprises, The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature. In it, a young Englishman, Nicholas Urfe, accepts a teaching position on a Greek island where his friendship with the owner of the islands most magnificent estate leads him into a nightmare. As reality and fantasy are deliberately confused by staged deaths, erotic encounters, and terrifying violence, Urfe becomes a desperate man fighting for his sanity and his life. A work rich with symbols, conundrums and labrinthine twists of event, The Magus is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining, a work that ranks with the best novels of modern times.