Radioactive 129 Sb, which can be treated as a proton plus semi-magic 128 Sn core within the particle-core coupling scheme, was studied by Coulomb excitation. Reduced electric quadrupole transition probabilities, B(E2), for the 2 + ⊗ πg7 /2 multiplet members and candidate πd5 /2 state were measured. The results indicate that the total electric quadrupole strength of 129 Sb is a factor of 1.39(11) larger than the 128 Sn core, which is in stark contrast to the expectations of the empirically successful particle-core coupling scheme. Shell-model calculations performed with two different sets of nucleon-nucleon interactions suggest that this enhanced collectivity is due to constructive quadrupole coherence in the wavefunctions stemming from the proton-neutron residual interactions, where adding one nucleon to a core near a double-shell closure can have a pronounced effect. The enhanced electric quadrupole strength is an early signal of the emerging nuclear collectivity that becomes dominant away from the shell closure. PACS numbers: 25.70.De, 23.20.-g, 21.10.KyAtomic nuclei are finite many-body quantum systems that exhibit a unique level of organization. Understanding this organization and the collective phenomena that emerge from the many individual nucleon-nucleon interactions is a leading challenge. The conventional microscopic modeling principle is to first invoke a mean field in which the nucleons move, which establishes the nuclear shell structure, and second, introduce residual interactions between the nucleons outside of a double-shell closure, which leads to configuration mixing and correlations in the nucleonic motion.It has long been postulated [1, 2] that nuclear collective excitations develop when the long-range part of the proton-neutron (pn) residual interaction, which is thought to drive the emergence of collectivity and deformation, overcomes the short-range pairing interaction, which akin to Cooper-pair formation in superconductors couples like nucleon pairs to spin zero and favors spherical shapes. The long-range pn interaction increases as both protons and neutrons are added outside a closed shell. Thus, the quest to understand how collectivity emerges, and the role of proton-neutron interactions, is traditionally based on systematic studies of sequences of nuclei that exhibit increasing collectivity, starting at a closed shell.One of the simplest possible steps that can be taken is to study the change in collectivity accompanying the addition of a single nucleon outside of a semi-magic eveneven core. Nuclear collectivity is signalled by strong electric quadrupole (E2) transitions between low-excitation energy levels. In seeking to understand the emergence of nuclear collectivity, it is essential to study E2 transition strengths, which may begin to show collective features before the patterns associated with deformed collective excitations (e.g., anharmonic vibrations and rotations) emerge in the energy levels.The region around double-magic 132 Sn is now accessible through experiments on radioactiv...