Le Collectionneur

by Christine Orban

Au début de ce siècle, Arpad de La Castille est un homme que la vie a comblé. Il mène une existence facile et brillante, éclairée par l'amour de sa femme Olivia, illuminée par sa passion de collectionneur.Et pourtant, par une nuit d'orage dans son château perdu au milieu des bois, son existence va basculer dans le cauchemar. Pourquoi sa rencontre tant attendue avec le comte Alberoni s'est-elle si mal terminée ? Et par quel étrange et maléfique hasard une femme - ou une image de femme - surgie du fond des temps est-elle venue ainsi ruiner son honneur et son espérance ?Avec une sensibilité extrême, une maîtrise subtile et parfois féroce de ses personnages, Christine Orban entraîne le lecteur dans un huis-clos plein de mystère et de raffinement, où les passions, toujours élégantes, n'en sont que plus violentes.

170 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

CHRISTINE ORBAN was born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco. An award-winning horse rider, she is also the author of twelve French novels, among them the national bestsellers Fringues and Le Silence des Hommes, are national bestsellers.
She lives in Paris with her husband and two sons.

Reviews

[Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, I did not read the French version of this book, I read the German translation. This is one of many books I snatched out of the bargain bin in Germany just before we moved back to the U.S. Only €0.50! Anyway, this turned out to be a pretty good story about a coin collector who stumbles upon an old (rare) coin commissioned by Cleopatra. He believes it's the only such coin still in existence, and decides to show it off to his arch rival in order to gloat over his find. During the visit the power goes out, and when the lights come back on a few minutes later that coin is gone! Oh my! The protagonist goes on to tell everyone in the tight-knit society of coin collectors that his rival stole the coin, even though he couldn't prove it. The rival does nothing to protect himself, and soon loses all his friends and even his wife, who feels scandalized. Oh my! In the end the collector discovers that the coin is not lost after all (he finds it stuck in his drapes), and when he confesses to his rival he learns that his rival also has a copy of the same coin. Is this great or what? Anyway, that's all the action, most of the book deals more with the psychological aspects of the characters as they struggle to deal with all the excitement. It really is quite a good book, guess you had to be there! ;-)