Collector Collector - Hardcover

Okay, folks, are you ready for a talking bowl? In The Collector Collector author Tibor Fischer has chosen to tell his story from the perspective of an erudite piece of pottery. No mere chachka from Pottery Barn, Fischer's narrator is several hundred years old, has a very long memory, and an astounding command of 5,000 languages. What's more, this bowl has witnessed more human depravity than the Marquis de Sade ever dreamed of: "Things are done in front of me that wouldn't be done in front of pets," it points out. Yet this inanimate object keeps its secrets--until it falls into the hands of Rosa, a London art appraiser with the ability to read the memories of objects and a history that shocks even the usually unflappable urn.

Rosa's sad-sack love life, a kidnapped advice columnist imprisoned in a well, and a kleptomaniac houseguest are just a few of the curve balls Fischer throws into this ribald tale of sex, murder, and frozen iguanas. The Collector Collector will certainly appeal to readers who revel in bad puns, bawdy stories, and wild flights of improbable fancy.

Tibor Fischer was born in Stockport in 1959. Brought up in London, where he now lives, he was educated at Cambridge and worked as a journalist. He has won the Betty Trask Award, been short-listed for the Booker, and been nominated one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists. Since Under the Frog, his debut, he has published four novels and two collections of short stories, including Don't Read This Book If You're Stupid.