The Moonstone
Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone
20h 9m listening
3.91from 101,097 ratingson Goodreads
"The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins is a novel published in 1868. A cursed Indian diamond, stolen during a colonial siege, arrives as an inheritance for young Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday. That night, the precious stone vanishes from her bedroom, launching a complex investigation involving suspicious servants, mysterious Indian priests, and shocking betrayals. This pioneering detective story unfolds through multiple narrators, each revealing new layers of deception as they race to solve the theft and recover the legendary gem.
Contains spoilers for the entire book
- Themes
- Atmosphere
About the book
Published in 1868 after its serialization in All the Year Round, The Moonstone begins with a great yellow diamond taken from a sacred shrine in India during the storming of Seringapatam in 1799. Bequeathed to Rachel Verinder as an eighteenth-birthday present, it disappears from her room the very night she receives it. Wilkie Collins tells the story through a series of narrators, from the family’s old house-steward Gabriel Betteredge, devoted to Robinson Crusoe, to the sanctimonious Miss Clack, and introduces the methodical Sergeant Cuff of Scotland Yard. With its suspects, false trails and final reconstruction of the crime, it is often counted among the first full-length detective novels in English.
Characters
Rachel Verinder — Heiress
A young woman whose inheritance of an Indian diamond disrupts her household and relationships.
Franklin Blake — Rachel's cousin
A well-traveled young man determined to understand the mystery surrounding the missing jewel.
Gabriel Betteredge — House steward
A loyal servant whose account combines close observation with an abiding faith in Robinson Crusoe.
Sergeant Cuff — Detective
A patient investigator whose attention to small details challenges the household's assumptions.
Rosanna Spearman — Housemaid
A socially isolated servant with a troubled past and a private emotional life.
Godfrey Ablewhite — Family acquaintance
A popular philanthropist whose polished reputation makes him a welcome visitor.
Ezra Jennings — Medical assistant
An isolated and perceptive man whose medical knowledge contributes to the investigation.
Miss Clack — Relative and narrator
An evangelical relation whose account of events is shaped by her determination to reform others.
About the author
Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) was an English novelist and playwright, born in London, the son of the landscape painter William Collins. He worked for a tea merchant and then studied law and was called to the bar, but never practised. In the early 1850s he became a close friend and collaborator of Charles Dickens, writing for his magazines Household Words and All the Year Round, where The Woman in White (1859–1860) first appeared and made him one of the most popular writers of the day. It was followed by No Name, Armadale and The Moonstone (1868), which helped establish both the sensation novel and the detective story in English. For much of his life he suffered from gout and depended on laudanum. He never married, and kept two households, one with Caroline Graves and another with Martha Rudd, the mother of his three children. He died in London in 1889.