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The Collector

Butterfly collector Frederick becomes obsessed with Miranda, a young art student. He kidnaps her and holds her in the cellar of his rural farmhouse.

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Hailed as the first modern psychological thriller, The Collector is the internationally bestselling novel that catapulted John Fowles into the front rank of contemporary novelists.

This tale of obsessive love—the story of a lonely clerk who collects butterflies and of the beautiful young art student who is his ultimate quarry—remains unparalleled in its power to startle and mesmerize.

"A superb novel ... Evil has seldom been so sinister." — Time

"A bravura first novel ... As a horror story, this book is a remarkable tour de force." — New Yorker

First published: 1963
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
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Book tags

Content warnings

No content warnings are recorded. Missing warnings do not mean the book is warning-free.

Horror profile

Scary: Not rated
Creepy: Not rated
Gore: Not rated
Disturbing: Not rated
Weird: Not rated

How we calculate this

These are editorial estimates of intensity, informed by reading and review evidence, then checked before publication. They aren't star ratings, reader-vote averages or a measure of quality.

Each dimension runs from 1 (low) to 5 (exceptionally intense). A 5 is reserved for strongly consistent evidence. People experience horror differently.

Scary: Fear, tension and immediate threat.
Creepy: Unease, dread and an uncanny atmosphere.
Gore: Graphic injury, blood and bodily detail.
Disturbing: Upsetting ideas and lingering psychological impact.
Weird: Surreal, strange and reality-bending elements.

We draw a filled profile only when all five scores have been reviewed. Unrated does not mean mild. Missing scores are not estimated from genre tags or your saved taste. This profile isn't a complete content-warning guide.