The Moonstone

The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century epistolary novel, generally considered the first detective novel in the English language.

Plot summary

The story concerns a young woman called Rachel Verinder who inherits a large Indian diamond, the Moonstone, on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt English colonial army officer. The diamond is of great religious significance as well as being enormously valuable, and three Indian Hindus have dedicated their lives to recovering it. The story incorporates elements of the legendary origins of the Hope Diamond (or perhaps the Orloff).

Rachel's eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party, whose guests include her impecunious beau Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who happen to call on the house. Later that night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom.

Rachel rejects the attentions of Franklin Blake and leaves in an emotional turmoil for London. She refuses to allow the police to question her or search her possessions raising suspicions. No one can figure out how the stone is stolen since no one was in her room. The Hindu jugglers are taken into custody but no stone is found. The young housemaid, who also happens to be in love with Franklin Blake, also acts suspiciously and then commits suicide by throwing herself into quicksand.

Characters in "The Moonstone"

Rachel Verinder – inheritor of the large Indian diamond known as "The Moonstone"
Franklin Blake – Verinder's suitor
Betteredge – the head servant, first narrator
Miss Clack – cousin to Betteredge, second narrator
Sergeant Cuff – the policman
Ezra Jennings – the solitary doctor addicted to laudanum
the three Hindu jugglers – also referred to in the novel as "Hindoo"s

Literary significance & criticism

The book is widely regarded as the precursor of the modern mystery and suspense novels. T. S. Eliot called it 'the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels'. It contains a number of ideas which became common tropes of the genre: a large number of suspects, red herrings, a crime being investigated by talented amateurs who happen to be present when it is committed, and two police officers who exemplify respectively the 'local bungler' and the skilled, professional, Scotland Yard detective.

The Moonstone represents Collins's only complete reprisal of the popular "multi-narration" method, he had previously utilised to great effect in The Woman in White. The technique again works to Collins's credit: the sections by Gabriel Betteredge (steward to the Verinder household) and Miss Clack (a poor relative and religious crank) offer both humour and pathos through their contrast with the testimony of other narrators, at the same time as constructing and advancing the novel's plot.

One of the things that made The Moonstone such a success was its sensationalist depiction of opium addiction. Unbeknownst to his readership, Collins was writing from personal experience. In his later years, Collins grew severely addicted to laudanum and as a result suffered from paranoid delusions, the most notable being his conviction that he was constantly accompanied by a doppelganger he dubbed 'Ghost Wilkie'.

It was Collins's last great success, coming at the end of an extraordinarily productive period which saw four successive novels become best-sellers. After The Moonstone he wrote novels containing more overt social commentary, which did not achieve the same audience.

Examined nowadays from a post-colonial viewpoint, The Moonstone's portrayal of three mysterious Indians who play an integral role in its plot seems unusually positive for a book of its time.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1934, the book was made into a critically acclaimed motion picture by Monogram Pictures Corporation. Adapted to the screen by Adele S. Buffington, the film was directed by Reginald Barker and starred David Manners, Charles Irwin and Phyllis Barry. The New York Times said of it: "The Moonstone is a prime example of what can be accomplished on a small budget with a little extra time and care."

In 1972, it was remade again in the United Kingdom and aired on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre.

In 1996, it was remade a third time, also in the United Kingdom, for television by the BBC and Carlton Television in partnership with American station WGBH of Boston, Massachusetts, airing on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre. It starred Greg Wise as Franklin Blake and Keeley Hawes as Rachel Verinder.