The Moonstone

The Moonstone is a Victorian mystery novel by the English writer Wilkie Collins. It was originally published in serial installments between January and August 1868. The Moonstone is sometimes considered one of the first detective novels in English, with its suspenseful and dramatic plot building on the success Collins had achieved with an earlier mystery novel, The Woman in White (1860). Throughout The Moonstone, Collins explores the themes of Public Reputation Versus Inner Nature, The Tensions Between Empirical Evidence and Faith, and The Unreliability of Witnessing and Memory.

This guide uses the 2001 Modern Library edition.

Content Warning: The source text contains references to death by suicide and Victorian-era prejudices surrounding Indian religion and culture.

Plot Summary

In 1799, an Englishman named John Herncastle steals a large diamond (known as “the Moonstone”) from India and takes it back to England. The diamond is a venerated religious object that is rumored to be closely guarded by three priests; it is said that a curse will befall anyone who steals the diamond. When Herncastle dies in 1848, he leaves the diamond to his niece, Rachel Verinder. Many people are confused by this gesture, since Herncastle was not on good terms with his sister (Rachel’s mother).