A Maggot

A remarkable and brilliant work of fiction...the imaginative power of the novel is astounding, the technical virtuosity and structural daring equally so

This altogether admirable novel serves, as all literature should, the forces of subversion. It is a worthy companion to The French Lieutenant's Woman, which does the same thing, but bolder in its experimentation and hence more notable as an artistic achievement

Compelling and passionate fiction... Fowles's darting imagination skims across the landscape of two and a half centuries

Brilliant and compelling...he deploys his usual seductive narrative gifts to great effect

John Fowles won international recognition with The Collector, his first published title, in 1963. He was immediately acclaimed as an outstandingly innovative writer of exceptional imaginative power. This reputation was confirmed with the appearance of his subsequent works including The Aristos, The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Ebony Tower, Daniel Martin, Mantissa and A Maggot. John Fowles died in 2005.

An extraordinary work of fiction, from one of the world's most exceptional writers. 
 
The year is 1736 and five travellers are journeying across Exmoor on horseback, their purpose unknown. One evening they stop at a village inn for some rest and, soon after, hear that a man has been hanged nearby and that another is missing. What follows is a maze of beguiling paths and wrong turnings, rituals and revelations, unaccountable motives and cryptic deeds, as the mystery swerves towards a startling vision at its centre. 
 
'This altogether admirable novel serves, as all literature should, the forces of subversion' Anthony Burgess, Observer 
 
'The reader is carried headlong into a maze of violent death, bizarre sex, disguise and terror' Sunday Times

The Ebony Tower

This is an immensely stimulating book, rich in imagery, sure in dialogue, profound in characterization, dazzling in its descriptive powers and constantly haunting with its Celtic rhythms and its bold, elegant design

This collection of five novellas confirms that in terms of technical resourcefulness and narrative skill he has few equals among the living novelists.  The novella which gives the book its title strikes me as being the finest thing Fowles has written

In a manner worthy of Pirandello, John Fowles uses the conventional apparatus of the detective-story to explore the relationship between fact and fiction, reality and illusion, to masterly effect

Arresting...this collection impresses me as deeply as any of the novels which Fowles has published to date

Pick up any of these stories and you won't, as they say, be able to put it down

John Fowles won international recognition with The Collector, his first published title, in 1963. He was immediately acclaimed as an outstandingly innovative writer of exceptional imaginative power. This reputation was confirmed with the appearance of his subsequent works including The Aristos, The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Ebony Tower, Daniel Martin, Mantissa and A Maggot. John Fowles died in 2005.

An extraordinary work of fiction, from one of the world's most exceptional writers. 
 
A journalist visits an elderly painter and becomes intrigued by his young female companions. Four years' worth of book research is set on fire in front of a writer. A successful MP disappears without a trace. 
 
Written with stylistic innovation, this sequence of novellas exploring the nature of art echoes the themes and preoccupations of Fowles' earlier work and cements his position as a master storyteller. 
 
'Pick up any of these stories and you won't, as they say, be able to put it down' Financial Times

Three BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations

John Fowles: The Collector, The Magus & The French Lieutenant’s Woman

Full-cast dramatisations of John Fowles' three best-known novels, with star casts 
 
John Fowles won international acclaim for his innovative, allusive novels The Collector, The Magus and The French Lieutenant's Woman. All were critical and commercial successes, translated into several languages and adapted as feature films. This collection brings together the BBC Radio adaptations of these three modern classics, with stellar casts including Judi Dench, Charles Dance and John Hurt. 
 
The Collector - When a lonely, obsessional office clerk wins a fortune on the football pools, he turns from collecting butterflies to 'collecting' a beautiful art student... This dark, disturbing dramatisation stars Judi Dench and Nigel Anthony. 
 
The Magus - Disillusioned young graduate Nick Urfe accepts a teaching post on an idyllic Greek island. There, he meets the mysterious Maurice Conchis, and becomes embroiled in a world of bizarre encounters and psychological tricks. As reality and illusion intertwine, what strange game is Conchis playing with Nick? Tom Burke, Charles Dance and Hayley Atwell star in this eerie, Lynchian drama. 
 
The French Lieutenant's Woman - Lyme Regis, 1867. Gentleman naturalist Charles Smithson is engaged to be married to the respectable Ernestina - but when he falls in love with notorious social outcast Sarah Woodruff, his complacent snobbery is shattered. Narrated by John Hurt, this multi-layered tale of forbidden passions in Victorian Dorset stars Jonathan Firth and Emily Bruni. 
 
 
Text copyright © John Fowles 1963 (The Collector), 1966, 1977 (The Magus), 1969 (The French Lieutenant's Woman) 
 
The Collector 
Miranda - Judi Dench 
Clegg - Nigel Anthony 
Other parts played by Douglas Blackwell, Martin Friend, Jane Knowles and John Rowe 
Adapted by David Parker 
Produced by Richard Wortley 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 July 1972 
 
The Magus 
Nick - Tom Burke 
Conchis - Charles Dance 
Lily - Hayley Atwell 
Alison - Anna Skellern 
Margaret - Josie Taylor 
Mitford - David Seddon 
Meli - Chris Pavlo 
Rowena - Lynsey-Anne Moffat 
Anton - Maarten Dannenberg 
German Colonel - Bodo Friesecke 
Greek resistance fighter/Ticket seller - Andreas Karras 
Lily de Seitas - Beth Goddard 
Kemp - Rachel Atkins 
Briggs - Michael Shelford 
Mrs Marks - Elaine Claxton 
Benji - Rudi Goodman 
Adapted by Adrian Hodges 
Produced and directed by Heather Larmour 
Harpsichordist: Maggie Cole 
Recorder player: Martin Feinstein 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20 March-3 April 2016 
 
The French Lieutenant's Woman 
Narrator - John Hurt 
Charles - Jonathan Firth 
Sarah - Emily Bruni 
Ernestina - Kelly Reilly 
Mrs Tranter - Elizabeth Spriggs 
Dr Grogan - TP McKenna 
Mrs Poulteney/Mrs Endicott - Susan Jameson 
Sam - Nick Sayce 
Mary - Ella Smith 
Dairyman/Mr Freeman - Gerard McDermott 
Mrs Fairley/Mrs Rogers - Colleen Prendergast 
Ostler/Montague - Wayne Foskett 
Prostitute - Sophie Roberts 
Curate - John Cummins 
Dramatised by Graham White 
Produced by Peter Kavanagh 
First broadcast BBC World Service, 23-30 September 2006 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. 
(p) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Collector

Three of the John Fowles' most popular novels, rejacketed with a vibrant new modern design

He has a magnificent narrative gift...brilliant

A brilliant, unusual theme... Short and spare and direct, an intelligent thriller with psychological and social overtones

Brilliant...an artist of great imaginative power

No book will make you appreciate the great outdoors more than this creepy locked-room horror story

There is not a page in this first novel which does not prove that its author is a master storyteller

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY EVIE WYLD 
 
'There is not a page in this first novel which does not prove that its author is a master storyteller' New York Times 
 
Weird, withdrawn, and unloved, Fred is a young collector of butterflies. One day his eye alights on a beautiful stranger, the art student Miranda, and an obsession starts to form. So when Fred wins some money he decides to use the money to compensate for his unfair start and to get what he really wants - Miranda. If she could only get to know him she might start to love him. And so with the meticulous attention to detail of an experienced collector he calmly plans her abduction.

The French Lieutenant's Woman

Widely acclaimed since publication, The French Lieutenant's Woman is John Fowles' best-loved novel and the ultimate in epic historical romance. 
 
Charles Smithson, a respectable engaged man, meets Sarah Woodruff as she stands on the Cobb at Lyme Regis, staring out to sea. Charles falls in love, but Sarah is a disgraced woman, and their romance will defy all the stifling conventions of the Victorian age. 
 
'A remarkable performance... As gripping as The Collector and The Magus' Observer

A brilliant success... It is a passionate piece of writing as well as an immaculate example of storytelling

A splendid, lucid, profoundly satisfying work of art, a book which I want almost immediately to read again

Marvellous 1969 novel... You can read this book again and again, always finding something new and always falling in love with the hapless Charles.

The French Lieutenant’s Woman is immensely interesting, attractive and human

It has a cracking story, a real emotional heart and a good sense of humour

John Fowles was born in England in 1926 and educated at Bedford School and Oxford University. John Fowles won international recognition with his first published title, The Collector (1963). He was immediately acclaimed as an outstandingly innovative writer of exceptional imaginative power and this reputation was confirmed with the appearance of his subsequent works. John Fowles died in 2005.

'A remarkable performance... As gripping as The Collector and The Magus' Observer 
 
Charles Smithson, a respectable engaged man, meets Sarah Woodruff as she stands on the Cobb at Lyme Regis, staring out to sea. Charles falls in love, but Sarah is a disgraced woman, and their romance will defy all the stifling conventions of the Victorian age. 
 
Widely acclaimed since publication, The French Lieutenant's Woman is the best-loved of John Fowles's novels.

The Magus

A major work of mounting tensions in which the human mind is the guinea-pig... Mr Fowles has taken a big swing at a difficult subject and his hits are on the bull's eye

One of those that's best read as a teenager, but once read you'll never forget it

John Fowles (Afterword by, Author) John Fowles was born in 1926. He won international recognition with The Collector, his first published title, in 1963. He was immediately acclaimed as an outstandingly innovative writer of exceptional imaginative power, and this reputation was confirmed with the appearance of his subsequent works: The Aristos, The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Ebony Tower, Daniel Martin, Mantissa, and A Maggot. John Fowles died in Lyme Regis in 2005. Two volumes of his Journals have recently been published; the first in 2003, the second in 2006.

WITH AN AFTERWORD FROM THE AUTHOR 
 
'A major work of mounting tensions in which the human mind is the guinea-pig... Mr Fowles has taken a big swing at a difficult subject and his hits are on the bull's eye' Sunday Times 
 
On a remote Greek Island, Nicholas Urfe finds himself embroiled in the deceptions of a master trickster. As reality and illusion intertwine, Urfe is caught up in the darkest of psychological games. John Fowles expertly unfolds a tale that is lush with over-powering imagery in a spellbinding exploration of human complexities. By turns disturbing, thrilling and seductive, The Magus is a feast for the mind and the senses.

John Fowles

A work of imaginative energy and passionate honesty

An instant masterpiece. It is a tour de force of stamina and subtlety

I find it disastrous to read any of John Fowles' books - once I pick one up, I cannot put it down so everything else gets ignored!

It is filled with beguiling dramatic set-pieces - scenes from the protagonist's Devon childhood, a romantic idyll with a neighboring farm girl, a gently satirical send-up of Hollywood hedonism, some marvelous travel-writing about Egypt and Syria... An old-fashioned novel in the sense that one can enter and live in it

An extraordinary work of fiction, from one of the world's most exceptional writers. 
 
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JULIAN FELLOWES 
 
After graduating from Oxford, Daniel Martin moved to America and successfully pursued the dreams of many: he became a Hollywood screenwriter. But, as the years go by, Daniel grows more and more unsatisfied with the life he once coveted and the person he has become. Now Daniel has been called back to England to reconcile with a dying friend, but finds that he must also reconcile with the past and with himself. 
 
'I find it disastrous to read any of John Fowles' books - once I pick one up, I cannot put it down so everything else gets ignored!' Judi Dench, Daily Express 
 
'An instant masterpiece. It is a tour de force of stamina and subtlety' Daily Telegraph

John Fowles

Praise for Daniel Martin

A work of imaginative energy and passionate honesty

An instant masterpiece. It is a tour de force of stamina and subtlety

A descriptive writer of great power

A work of imaginative energy and passionate honesty

An instant masterpiece. It is a tour de force of stamina and subtlety

A descriptive writer of great power

A work of imaginative energy and passionate honesty

An instant masterpiece. It is a tour de force of stamina and subtlety

A descriptive writer of great power

Books by John Fowles

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