THE circumstances under which The Moonstone was originally written have invested the book - in the author's mind - with an interest pecnliarly its own.
While this work was still in course of periodical publication in England and in the United States, and when not more than one-third of it was completed, the bitterest affliction of my life and the severest illness from which I have ever suffered fell on me together. At the time when my mother lay dying in her little cottage in the country, I was struck prostrate, in London - crippled in every limb by the torture of daenmatic gout...
The Moonstone, a large, beautiful yet fated diamond, was stolen from an Indian shrine. It is given to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday and, that same night, stolen again.
Sergeant Cuff is employed by Rachel"s mother to find the precious stone and has no shortage of suspects. By turns, those on the periphery and at the heart of the mystery tell their version of eveffts until all is unravelled at the unexpected conclusion.
A pioneer in the art of the English detective novel and a master of innovation, Wilkie Collins was one of the most successful and gifted writers of his generation. In the words of Michael Innes The Moonstone "stands alone in its kind...[there is] a sense of attending upon the birth of the detective story".
THE STORMING OF SERINGAPATAM (1799)
Extractedfrom a Family Paper
THE STORY
First period
THE LOSS OF THE DIAMOND (1848)
The Events related by Gabriel Betteredge,House-steward in the service of Julia,Lady Verinder
Second Period
THE DISCOVERY OF THE TRUTH (1848-49)
The Events related in several Narratives
FIRST NARRATIVE
Contributed by Miss Clack, Niece of the late Sir John Verinder
SECOND NARRATIVE
THIRD NARRATIVR
Contributed by Franklin Blake
FOURTH NARRATIVE
FIFTH NARIATIVE
SIXTH NARRATIVE
Contributed by Sergeant Cuff
SEVENTH NARRATIVE
In a Letter from Mr Candy
EIGHTH NARIATIVE
Contributed by Gabriel Betteredge
THE FINDING OF THE DIAMOND
THB STATEMENT OF SERGEANT CUFF"S MAN (1849)
THE STATBMENT OF THE CAPTAIN (1849)
THE STATBMENT OF MR MURTHWAITE (1850)
In a Letter Mr Bruff
