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    The Moonstone: A Novel
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    The Moonstone: A Novel
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    The Moonstone: A Novel
    Ebook769 pages11 hours

    The Moonstone: A Novel

    By Wilkie Collins

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The Moonstone is one of the most famous suspense novels of all time: a masterpiece of construction and the ultimate page-turner, it introduced one of the world’s most beloved genres, the detective story.

    At a party celebrating her eighteenth birthday, Rachel Verinder wears the stunning yellow diamond she unexpectedly inherited from her uncle, Colonel John Herncastle.

    She is not aware that the precious gem, known as the Moonstone, has been missing since it was plundered from a sacred Hindu shrine in southern India where her uncle had served with the British army fifty years ago.

    But someone knows the secret of the Moonstone and will go to desperate measures to retrieve it. When it goes missing later that night, suspicions are raised and accusations fly. Could it be a trio of mysterious Indian jugglers seen near the house? Or a love-struck housemaid suddenly behaving strangely? And there is Rachel herself, who becomes furious when her paramour, Franklin Blake, directs attempts to find it.

    As divergent accounts reveal more details, the diamond’s recovery is complicated by unexpected twists and turns. Sifting through a compelling list of suspects, the indomitable Sergeant Cuff must find the truth about the Moonstone and its mysterious disappearance.

    The Moonstone features 66 black and-white woodcut illustrations throughout.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 29, 2013
    ISBN9780062227300
    Unavailable
    The Moonstone: A Novel
    Author

    Wilkie Collins

    William Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short stories, 14 plays, and more than 100 essays. His best-known works are The Woman in White and The Moonstone.

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    Reviews for The Moonstone

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      Given my awkward history with Collins, I must attribute my success with The Moonstone with the mystique of the Medina. It was frightfully hot in Morocco and I slipped into this novel as an escape and enjoyed its serial protagonists, its clumsy racism, its outrageous plot. Along with Stendhal's Charterhouse of Parma this novel fit the definition of transportive in an airtight manner.

      The Moonstone has been regarded as the first detective movel. Its disparate perspectives don't quite overlap and there is a lack of torque about the affair. The lingering gray ambiguity suits the novel's mood, which unsettles. The Moonstone does yield a fertile field of suspects. The representation of opium is a curious bend to the whole process.
    • 2/5
      (Original Review, 1981-01-28)The instant my eyes rested on her, I was struck by the rare beauty of her form, and by the unaffected grace of her attitude. Her figure was tall, yet not too tall; comely and well-developed, yet not fat; her head set on her shoulders with an easy, pliant firmness; her waist, perfection in the eyes of a man, for it occupied its natural place, it filled out its natural circle, it was visibly and delightfully undeformed. She had not heard my entrance into the room; and I allowed myself the luxury of admiring her for a few moments, before I moved one of the chairs near me, as the least embarrassing means of attracting her attention. She turned towards me immediately. The easy elegance of every movement of her limbs and body as soon as she began to advance from the far end of the room, set me in a flutter of expectation to see her face clearly. She left the window—and I said to myself, The lady is dark. She moved forward a few steps—and I said to myself, The lady is young. She approached nearer—and I said to myself (with a sense of surprise which words fail me to express), The lady is ugly!Never was the old conventional maxim, that Nature cannot err, more flatly contradicted—never was the fair promise of a lovely figure more strangely and startlingly belied by the face and head that crowned it. The lady's complexion was almost swarthy, and the dark down on her upper lip was almost a moustache. She had a large, firm, masculine mouth and jaw; prominent, piercing, resolute brown eyes; and thick, coal-black hair, growing unusually low down on her forehead. Her expression—bright, frank, and intelligent—appeared, while she was silent, to be altogether wanting in those feminine attractions of gentleness and pliability, without which the beauty of the handsomest woman alive is beauty incomplete. To see such a face as this set on shoulders that a sculptor would have longed to model—to be charmed by the modest graces of action through which the symmetrical limbs betrayed their beauty when they moved, and then to be almost repelled by the masculine form and masculine look of the features in which the perfectly shaped figure ended—was to feel a sensation oddly akin to the helpless discomfort familiar to us all in sleep, when we recognise yet cannot reconcile the anomalies and contradictions of a dream.
    • 3/5
      Good. Because it was written at the end of the 19th Century it did bog down in minutiae and archaic language, but was quite entertaining and of historic value.
    • 4/5
      "The Moonstone" is considered as the first novel in the English language to involve a detective. A large diamond is brought from India under suspicious circumstances. The diamond, the Moonstone, is inherited by Rachel a young heiress who loses it the same night and what follows a long and winding story of the investigation to find the missing Moonstone. An entertaining story with a Dickensonian tone.
    • 5/5
      I tend to be slightly sceptical toward books that are considered classics, especially the ones written ages ago. I was therefore somewhat sceptical toward The Moonstone, a classic which is almost 150 years old. My scepticism was put well and truly to shame. The Moonstone is an original mystery, in every sense of the word, which is centred around a valuable diamond said to be cursed. The story is told in the form of statements written after the fact by some of the people involved in the story, recounting events as they observed them. This works extremely well. The differences in perspective adds an additional level to a story which is already great. The personality of the writers shines through in the narratives written by them, and some of the more personal observations and musings of the characters made me laugh out loud to the extent at which I got looks, on both an airplane and a train. I could go on about how great this book is, and how much I enjoyed it, but I won't. I'd just encourage you to read it. Unless you really don't like the mystery-genre, I think you'll enjoy this book. If you're lucky, you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
    • 4/5
      First line:~ Extracted from a Family Paper - I address these lines—written in India—to my relatives in England ~I started reading this book in May for the RTT Theme Read - Historical Crime; carried on into June 2012 for the TIOLI Challenge #5 - Read a book with a title which contains a brand of automobile (make or model) (Moon); finished in July for the TIOLI Challenge #7: Read a book of *more than 300 pages* with *a multiple word title*This crime novel was written in 1868 so the language and style took a little getting used to but I really enjoyed this book, even though it took me 3 months to complete it. It was not because I did not like it but rather it required a lot of focus and that is often a problem for me. This novel was written in an epistolary style which I found enjoyable. Getting details of the story from several different narrators brought different perspectives and sustained my interest. This book is considered to be the first detective novel, one of my favourite genres. I loved the way that the solution to the mystery evolved slowly and was not aware of the identity of the perpetrator of the crime until Collins revealed it. Collins incorporated a lot of humor into this work and I like that also.
    • 5/5
      I think this is generally recognized as English literature's first detective story. It certainly provides some useful patterns for others to follow, and like all great detective stories keeps the reader gripped and guessing from first till last. Wilkie Collins was a contemporary and friend of Dickens, and there are similarities of style, though in general Collins is less given to authorial moralising or the use of the extended metaphor. Both employ the mini-climax technique to keep us turning the pages. Collins has other clever tricks up his sleeve. I particularly enjoy his multi-narrative structure, where the responsibility for telling different parts of the story is passed on from one character to another. Collins does a superb job with voice and characterisation of both male and female narrators - my favourites were the loyal servant Gabriel Betteredge with his passion for his pipe and 'Robinson Crusoe' (preferably together), and the prudish Miss Clack, a wonderful comic study in sanctimonious egotism. It is interesting also, for the modern reader who may have read Kate Summerscale's 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' to see the famous real-life Victorian detective portrayed in fictional form here as Sergeant Cuff. Like most 19th Century novels 'The Moonstone' is quite long, but there is always something interesting going on and the denouement is more than satisfactory.
    • 5/5
      What can i say that hasnt already been said at some point regarding this book? Pleasantly surprised that it has survived the test of time so well and found it to be an excellent read .
    • 4/5
      This is one of the first modern mystery stories, and it's fascinating. You absolutely cannot put it down. Plus, it has the soothing cadences that we all love in Victorian novels. Mystery readers will notice that, for a Victorian novel, the plot is not overly contrived. The story feels fairly authentic. Modern and Victorian all at once--the best of both worlds.
    • 5/5
      Firstly I find it truly amazing that I have never read this book before especially given that Collins's 'Woman in White' is one of my all time favourites and this book certainly does not let the side down. That said I found this one a bit of a slow burner because it was not an instant hit but once hooked it certainly reeled me in.This book is claimed by many to be the first feature length crime novel and you can certainly see echoes of those that were to follow within it. I spent most of the book willing Sergeant Cuff to say 'elementary' but of course he never did. Yet although the book revolves around the theft of a diamond it is more than just a crime novel. It is a love story, a story about moral standards and about Victorian society as a whole. It is also witty in places, I loved Druscilla Clack in particular, with her trying to convert everyone she meets to her way of thinking yet totally blind to her own flaws and I loved the image of the lawyer Bruff being described as being 'as imaginative as a cow.'The characters were so well fleshed out I felt that I was able to connect with them all in one way or another and really shows Collins was a master of his art. Personally I worked out who the real villain was fairly early (I won't give it away) even if not how but unlike most modern crime novels it just did not matter a jot. I loved this book and was almost sorry tofinish it. Almost
    • 4/5
      The one word which comes to mind when I think of this novel is mesmerising. Slow and steady in its pace, the suspense builds almost inperceptibly until it becomes a page turner. I love the technique of using different narrators and I love how my perception of characters underwent shifts as those characters in turn becamse narrators and got to tell their own part of the story. This is a novel of mystery, romance, comedy, drama and tragedy. It's not a novel for a reader who wants instant gratification. Still less is it a novel for a reader whose idea of a good novel is one involving non-stop action. But I found it truly one to savour.
    • 5/5
      The Moonstone is considered to be the first English detective novel. The story is told in a series of narratives by various characters. It also has some social statements on the life of servants and on the imperialism of the British nation. The Moonstone is a large flawed yellow diamond sacred to Hindus in India. It happens to cause trouble to the possessor since it was taken in the battle at Seringapatam. Rachel Verinder receives it as an inheritance on her eighteenth birthday. Three Hindu men have dedicated their lives to capturing and returning the Moonstone to India. The three Indian men show up as jugglers during the birthday celebration. that night Rachel puts the Moonstone in her cabinet and the next day it is found to be stolen. At first it is thought the Indians have taken it but soon the reader knows that someone who was in the house that night is responsible. Rachel will not cooperate with the investigation. The mystery is not solved.

      This book was very enjoyable and was a quick enjoyable read for a book of nearly 500 pages. Many people enjoy the author’s The Woman in White but I preferred this one. The mystery is interesting, the characters are well developed and I can recommend this one to just about anyone who likes a good story. I have this in dead tree, kindle and audio and read it with whispersync. The narrator did a good job of trying to create a voice for each character.
    • 2/5
      I do not understand how this happened, but I was not a fan of this book. I loved Collins' mystery "The Woman in White." It's thrilling, complicated and well-plotted. I tend to love Dickens' books and he has a similar style. I started it this fall and just couldn't get into it. I tried reading it on my kindle and then I tried a hardcopy. I dreaded picking it up and it took me months to finish. Called one of the first detective novels in existence, this unique plot rotates between narrators to tell the story of a stolen diamond. As the plot thickens we see each of the characters share their side of the story. Each participant has a different agenda and we aren't sure if we can trust their version. I appreciate the fact that the style in the book did something original, but I still had a hard time connecting with any of them. BOTTOM LINE: I have no idea why this one was such an awful slog for me. It took me three months to get through it. I'm hoping that I am up for trying it again in a decade or so, but until then I'd recommend The Woman in White over this one.
    • 2/5
      Felt much less modern than other novels by his contemporaries. Very we're-still-working-to-perfect-this-art-form. I loved Sergeant Cuff, and Betteredge with his Robinson Crusoe fixation, but overall I wish the narration hadn't shifted around and broken the fourth wall so often.
    • 4/5
      After a slow start this book turned out to be really good. I love a mystery and this one had some great twists and turns and I was surprised at how it all unfolded. Very nicely written.

      I think it was a slow start just because I needed to get my mind set into the scene and time of the book. Once I was there it was wonderful!
    • 3/5
      The Moonstone is credited with being one of (if not the) first detective mystery novels, and I wanted to read it because another book I plan to read references it.

      I liked it. It is the proverbial English country house mystery. Nice little dead ends, twists and fun stuff. Unlikely (and likely) suspects, a little of the paranormal-ish... I think it was the first to really feature a twist at the end, but nowadays we're so used to twists, it wasn't one to me (seriously, it was easy to figure out, but fun).

      The story is a little long. It takes place through several narrators, from the house-manager to the aristocratic guest, the lady's religious niece, the opium addicted doctor, and the retired, rose-growing detective.

      There is not a lot of overlap in the narratives, and the narratives follow the story chronologically, making them a wee bit less tedious than if we had to read about the same event from 5 viewpoints. There's a lot of thought, introspection, distractions, and human frailties in the narratives that make them interesting.

      I also think it has held up well over time. Not bad. I'd recommend it to anyone that likes to read these kinds of novels or even watch these kinds of movies/shows.
    • 5/5
      My first Arion Press "experience" and I'm really enjoying it -- the story itself, the feel of the book in my hands, the paper's texture, the crisp letterpress, the illustrations.
    • 4/5
      This is the perfect combination of Victorian lit combined with a good mystery. The story is based on a valuable moonstone that was part of the headpiece of a Hindu idol. A British soldier steals it from India and brings it, and its associated curse, back to England. He bequeaths it to his niece on her 18th birthday. After the elaborate birthday dinner, the jewel is stolen. There is a large and diverse cast of characters - which become a large and diverse cast of potential suspects. The book is told through journals written by different characters ranging from an old faithful servant to an evangelical spinster. The personality of the narrators added by not only putting a bit of prejudice on each witness but also created some very good humor. Very fun read!
    • 4/5
      I'd been meaning to read this book for decade. A friend mentioned it. Then it got jumbled up in my brain with Colin Wilson's Mysteries - which I also hadn't read - because of the vague phonetic similarities. For awhile the two were one book in my chaotic universe. The memory plays tricks, indeed.The Moonstone, written in 1870, has been said to be the first and best mystery novel. While that may be hyperbole, it is a very good mystery read, and it feels modern, despite its age. The story concerns the theft of a unique gem, The Moonstone. The jewel, originally prized by a Hindu cult, and seized from it by a British adventurer, passes, through an inheritance, into the possession of a young lady, from whom, it is, once again, stolen. Therein lies the whodunnit: was the thief one of her rival suitors, a member of the vengeful cult, a member of her household staff, or even, she herself, for obscure reasons?The tale is presented a bit like a relay race. It unfolds chronologically, but, at different stages, the baton (a first person narrative) passes to a different character in the mystery. The characters are very distinct and vivid, and you can sense that Charles Dickens was both a mentor and close friend of Collins. There's a bit of a corny likeness between, say, Dombey and Son's Captain Cuttle, who revers the taciturn advice of one of his fellow sea cap'ns and Gabriel Betteridge who idolizes Stevenson and the wisdom of Treasure Island. There's a similar lack of self awareness, and absurdity, between Miss Clack and Martin Chuzzlewit's "Sairey" Gamp.The difference, though, between the authors, is that with Dickens, the plots of his novels seem to emerge from his characters, and afterward, you remember, principally, their personalities and their quirks. With the Moonstone, however, the characters, though memorable, are clearly subordinate to the mystery, and I think, in a year or so, I will most remember the storyline.I was also intrigued, upon reading a bit about Wilkie Collins, to find that he was addicted to opium and even suffered from paranoid delusions of a doppelganger. It's interesting to ponder, in reverse, what influence his friendship and sufferings may have had, on Dickens, in the writing of The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the shaping of the character of Jaspers.
    • 4/5
      Loved the ending. Not your classical good guys win, bad guys die, but a little bit more sophisticated. I never knew (before now) that Wilkie Collins was one of Arthur Canon Doyle's inspirations. The book is a bit slow, but that's one of the pleasures in reading victorian books - taking the time to enjoy them properly. After all, they were written at a time when they were *supposed* to be time consuming. I also didn't like the general attitude towards servants, showing them as lowly all of the time. But again, that's what you get in 19th century novels, you just have to bear with it. Other than that, I just had a wonderfull adventure :) 3.12.07
    • 5/5
      God, I love Wilkie Collins. As with Woman in White, there is mystery, complicated and well-developed characters, and strong female characters. It is obvious from his writing that Collins thought much differently than his counterparts about the abilities of women. In many ways this work could be compared to Woman in White, which is one of my favorite books of all time. The tempo and narration of Moonstone is just about perfect. I definitely recommend this for anyone who likes mysteries or novels of this time period.
    • 5/5
      A great book by Wilkie Collins. I read everywhere that this book is the first detective story ever written. Well, true or not, it is a good one, especially if one realizes that Collins apparently did not have any example to follow.
      The book is written as if it is being told by several of the main characters in the story, in succession. This way of writing has been used again by Collins and I find it a very interesting way to tell a story.
      Of course this book is slow at times, given the time of its origin. One never looses attention, however, and therefore the only "score" it can receive from me is 5 stars.
    • 3/5
      Truly a delightful tale, I restrict it to three stars only because the easy, meandering pace tested the limits of my impatience. In all other respects I enjoyed the book, loved and hated characters as intended, and savoured the complex interaction of differing narrative viewpoints.
    • 5/5
      A compelling and unusual mystery. Slow-paced like all Victorian literature, but that suits its moodiness. Despite the decades of detective fiction since, this book is still clever and unpredictable.
    • 4/5
      I listened to this in audio format, recorded by the cast of Recorded Books. The performance was outstanding. I usually do not think much of using multiple readers for novels, but in this case it truly added to the book.The Moonstone, a valuable diamond that has already been stolen once, is stolen again. There are 7 (8?) narratives that tell the story of the mayhem surrounding the loss of the diamond and attempts to discover the thief and recover it. What I don't see noted in many of the reviews of this book is the humor. There is drama and mystery, love and death, but this is a funny book. Betteridge, the Butler, with his fierce allegiance to Robinson Crusoe is perhaps one of my all-time favorite characters.I agree that it does seem longer than it is -- even when it ended, there was still more to go. Part of it's Victorian charm, I suppose. I'm going to recommend this one to anyone who has the patience for it. Not a quick read, but a worthwhile one.
    • 5/5
      first line: "I address these lines--written in India--to my relatives in England."One night, as I was getting ready for bed, I plucked this book from my shelf and settled in to read it. I thought I'd just read a few chapters before sleeping.Several hours later, after daybreak, I had only a few scattered chapters left. While I didn't want to leave off reading, I was so tired I could hardly make sense of written words. So I slept for a while before returning to the book and devouring the last few chapters.Needless to say, I highly recommend this wonderfully gripping 19th-century British mystery to anyone with several hours to devote to it. (In other words, don't begin it at bedtime.)
    • 5/5
      First rate, top drawer, loved it. Great characters, both male & female. Very accessible to modern readers.
    • 4/5
      The Moonstone is generally regarded as a progenitor of detective fiction, with its Sergeant Cuff one of the very first professional crimesolvers. Collins sets up a traditionally Victorian scenario, in which we have a few typical characters, including the willful heiress, the irresponsible suitor, the admirable philanthropist, the observant butler, the servant with the criminal background, and the suspicious foreigners. He introduces the Moonstone, a large jewel stolen from India in the previous century and presented to the heiress upon her coming of age. It disappears almost immediately, and virtually everyone is a suspect.Collins rotates the narration among several characters, according to who was in the best position to observe each period of the story. I found that the first section, narrated by the butler Betteredge, dragged quite a bit before it finished. The next narrator, Mrs. Clack, was hilariously different, and each subsequent narrator provided a different view. However, the tone and vocabulary of most of the narrators were surprisingly indistinguishable. This technique could have been used to greater advantage to support the author's apparent interest in issues of social class.The story and its denouement reflect quite a bit about Collins's life and England during that period. The reader might notice the places during the book where an installment ended with a cliffhanger. Collins was a colleague of Dickens and shared some of his tastes and techniques. The characters are a mix of stereotype and fuller fleshing out. Collins uses occasional humor to leaven the typically rather heavy dramatic tone of the book. Overall I found it a book to be appreciated more than enjoyed.
    • 5/5
      What an excellent book. It held me to the last with its different perspectives and the linking character of the inimitable Sergeant Cusk. The only thing I'm wondering is why it's taken my so many decades to come to it.
    • 4/5
      A great absorbing book, more so for its brilliant and wry portraits than for the mystery itself. While I did not find the mystery as spine-tingling and mysterious as Woman in White, I loved this book nearly as much as that. The character studies are really well done, and at time poignant,Ezra Jennings; and often amusing, Miss Clack; and sometimes both, Gabriel Betteredge. While tackling a well crafted mystery, Collins attempts to analyze the problems of prejudice and imperialism. His treatment of those outside of the class system or on the lower ends of it is intelligent and rarely stoops to the pathos of Dickens.