The Great Victorian Collection

Anthony Maloney, a scholar of Victorian history, checks into a motel in Carmel, California, goes to sleep, and dreams of a priceless collection of rare Victorian artifacts. When he wakes up and looks out the window, he is astonished to find his dream has become reality: in the parking lot, an enormous assortment of Victoriana lays spread out like an open-air market. When the world gets wind of this strange and fantastic occurrence, experts arrive to examine the items and discover that, impossibly, some of the objects are identical to one-of-a-kind items only found in the British Museum, and yet somehow they are not fakes. As news of his collection spreads, Maloney finds himself besieged by the news media, psychological and parapsychological investigators, antiquarians, and those who want to exploit him for their own personal gain, and soon what began as a beautiful dream spirals out of control into a terrible nightmare.

Northern Irish-born Brian Moore (1921-1999) was one of the most critically acclaimed authors of his generation and was a three-time finalist for the prestigious Booker Prize. The Great Victorian Collection (1975), winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for best British novel of the year, is by turns mysterious and tragic, a page-turner that readers will find it impossible to put down.

"He is my favorite living novelist. Each book of his is unpredictable, dangerous, and amusing. He treats the novel as a tamer treats a wild beast." - Graham Greene

"The Great Victorian Collection seems to me a perfect novel. It dazzles. It unsettles. It puzzles some people, shatters others. It shattered me." - Joan Didion