Ebony Tower

The Ebony Tower is a series of novellas, rich in imagery, exploring the nature of art. In the title story, a journalist visiting a celebrated but reclusive painter is intrigued by the elderly artist's relationship with two beautiful young women. John Fowles reputation as a master storyteller was further advanced by this collection, which echoed themes and preoccupations from his other books.

Review: This is an immensely stimulating book, rich in imagery, sure in dialogue, profound in characterization, dazzling in its descriptive powers and constantly haunting with its Celtic rhythms and its bold, elegant design * The Times *

This collection of five novellas confirms that in terms of technical resourcefulness and narrative skill he has few equals among the living novelists. The novella which gives the book its title strikes me as being the finest thing Fowles has written * Observer *

In a manner worthy of Pirandello, John Fowles uses the conventional apparatus of the detective-story to explore the relationship between fact and fiction, reality and illusion, to masterly effect * Sunday Telegraph *

Arresting...this collection impresses me as deeply as any of the novels which Fowles has published to date * Guardian *

Pick up any of these stories and you won't, as they say, be able to put it down * Financial Times *