The Collector

The Collector was John Fowles’ first published novel, but it reads like the work of someone far more experienced. The title character is Frederick, a butterfly collector (who prefers to be called Ferdinand), who decides to “collect” the long-admired-from-a-distance object of his fantasy, an art student named Miranda. The Collector (1963) is disturbing, engrossing, unforgettable — the story of an obsessive young man and the girl he kidnaps and holds prisoner in his cellar.