The Collectors

the long version

In this darkly delicious sliver of a tale, Philip Pullman offers a glimpse of the enigmatic girl who will become the sinister Mrs. Coulter. On a cold winter's night, two art collectors are settled before a fire in the Senior Common Room of a college in Oxford, discussing the unusual pieces one has recently added to his collection. What the two men don't know is that the portrait of a striking young woman and the bronze sculpture of a fearsome monkey are connected in mysterious ways. How could th