The Collector is the 1963 debut novel by English author John Fowles. It was adapted as a feature film of the same name in 1965. The novel is about a lonely young man, Frederick Clegg, who works as a clerk in a city hall and collects butterflies in his spare time. The first part of the novel tells the story from his point of view. Clegg is obsessed with Miranda Grey, a middle-class art student at the Slade School of Fine Art. He admires her from a distance but is unable to make any contact with her because he lacks social skills. One day, he wins a large prize in the football pools. He quits his job and buys an isolated house in the countryside. He feels lonely, however, and wants to be with Miranda. Unable to make any normal contact, Clegg decides to add her to his collection of pretty, petrified objects, in the hope that if he keeps her captive long enough, she will grow to love him.