The Collectors by Philip Pullman, illustrated by Tom Duxbury {Reviewed by STELLA}
If you’re waiting for the third and final installment of 'The Book of Dust', you’ll need something to be carrying on with. Luckily, there is a new small volume, The Collectors. This is a mysterious story about two artifacts: a painting and a bronze monkey. The two artifacts trail each other, ending up in a collector’s hands always at the same time. They are strangely drawn together time and time again through what would seem happenstance but what one expects is something altogether stranger. Two men have met in the Common Room at Oxford College. It’s a dark, and maybe a little stormy, night. The fire is lit, and the conversation of the men in the room is convivial. I imagine the room has large armchairs and wondrous volumes on its shelves (so just the book for our Volume Focus topic this week). As the others bid the two friends goodnight, the conversation turns to the mysterious artifacts and a spine-tingling story. Who is the woman in the painting? Why does she stare with such intensity from the picture? And why does the monkey sculpture, a macabre and unpleasant curiosity, always turn up to join her? And why are the collectors (for there have been many) so repulsed yet drawn to possess this hideous creature? If you are a 'Dark Materials' fan, you’ve probably guessed who they are. It won’t make it any less fascinating. Delve into this short gothic tale of murder and mayhem, a story that crosses worlds and makes for a chilling bedtime read. You’ll want to add this to your collection. Others in this series are Serpentine, Lyra’s Oxford, Once Upon a Time in The North, and The Imagination Chamber. And if you are interested in story-telling, Pullman’s essays in Daemon Voices are rich and illuminating.
