Other editions of book The Moonstone: By Wilkie Collins - Illustrated

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is considered the first detective novel in the English language. Told as a series of letters and diary entries, The moonstone is the story of a young English woman who inherits a large Indian diamond on her 18th birthday. When the diamond is stolen, the complex plot of the novel follows the characters through their attempts to explain the theft, identify the thief and recover the diamond. This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This ebook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope you’ll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it.Xist Publishing is a digital-first publisher. Xist Publishing creates books for the touchscreen generation and is dedicated to helping everyone develop a lifetime love of reading, no matter what form it takes Get your next Xist Classic title for Kindle here: http://amzn.to/1A7cKKl Find all our our books for Kindle here: http://amzn.to/1PooxLl Sign up for the Xist Publishing Newsletter here. Find more great titles on our website.

Generally considered as the first detective novel in the English language, "The Moonstone" is the story of a young woman named Rachel Verinder who inherits a large Indian diamond, the Moonstone, on her eighteenth birthday. At her eighteenth birthday party, Rachel wears the Moonstone for all to see, later that night the diamond is stolen and quickly an investigation ensues to discover the identity of the thief and recover the jewel. A genre defining novel, "The Moonstone" is a classic, one of Wilkie Collins best loved works.

When Rachel Verinder turns eighteen she inherits a large and spectacular diamond known as The Moonstone from an uncle who had served in the British Army in India. Unaware of the importance of the diamond in Hindu religion, Rachel wears her new prize on her gown at her birthday celebration. But when Indian performers spot the diamond, Rachel and her cousin Franklin, along with many others, are pulled into a complex web of occurrences all stemming from the precious jewel. The Moonstone is considered to be one of author Wilkie Collins’ best works. Written in the epistolary style, it is often cited as being one of the first detective novels in the English language and was a precursor to the mystery and suspense novels of the twentieth century. It has been adapted numerous times for radio and television. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Plot summaryColonel Herncastle, an unpleasant former soldier, brings the Moonstone back with him from India where he acquired it by theft and murder during the Siege of Seringapatam. Angry at his family, who shun him, he leaves it in his will as a birthday gift to his niece Rachel, thus exposing her to attack by the stone's hereditary guardians, who, legend says, will stop at nothing to retrieve it.Rachel wears the stone to her birthday party, but that night it disappears from her room. Suspicion falls on three Indian jugglers who have been near the house; on Rosanna Spearman, a maidservant who begins to act oddly and who then drowns herself in a local quicksand; and on Rachel herself, who also behaves suspiciously and is suddenly furious with Franklin Blake, with whom she has previously appeared to be enamored, when he directs attempts to find it. Despite the efforts of Sergeant Cuff, a renowned detective, the house party ends with the mystery unsolved, and the protagonists disperse.During the ensuing year there are hints that the diamond was removed from the house and may be in a London bank vault, having been pledged as surety to a moneylender. The Indian jugglers are still nearby, watching and waiting. Rachel's mother dies, increasing her grief and isolation, and she first accepts and then rejects a marriage proposal from her cousin Godfrey Ablewhite, a philanthropist who was also present at the birthday dinner and whose father owns the bank near Rachel's old family home. Finally Franklin Blake returns from travelling abroad and determines to solve the mystery. He first discovers that Rosanna Spearman's behaviour was due to her having fallen in love with him. She found evidence (a paint smear on his nightclothes) that convinced her that he was the thief and concealed it in order to save him, confusing the trail of evidence and throwing suspicion on herself. In despair at her inability to make him acknowledge her despite all she had done for him, she committed suicide, leaving behind the smeared gown and a letter he did not receive at the time because of his hasty departure abroad.Now believing that Rachel suspects him of the theft on Rosanna's evidence, Franklin engineers a meeting and asks her. To his astonishment she tells him she actually saw him steal the diamond and has been protecting his reputation at the cost of her own even though she believes him to be a thief and a hypocrite. With hope of redeeming himself he returns to Yorkshire to the scene of crime and is befriended by Mr. Candy's assistant, Mr. Ezra Jennings. They join together to continue the investigations and learn that Franklin was secretly given laudanum during the night of the party (it was given to him by the doctor, Mr. Candy, who wanted revenge on Franklin for criticizing medicine); it appears that this, in addition to his anxiety about Rachel and the diamond and other nervous irritations, caused him to take the diamond in a narcotic trance, in order to move it in a safe place. A re-enactment of the evening's events confirms this, but how the stone ended up in a London bank remains a mystery only solved a year after the birthday party when the stone is redeemed. Franklin and his allies trace the claimant to a seedy waterside inn, only to discover that the Indians have got there first: he is dead and the stone is gone. Under the dead man's disguise is none other than Godfrey Ablewhite, who is found to have embezzled the contents of a trust fund in his care and to have been facing exposure soon after the birthday party. The mystery of what Blake did while in his drugged state is solved: he encountered Ablewhite in the passageway outside Rachel's room and gave the Moonstone to him to be put back in his father's bank, from which it had been withdrawn on the morning of the party to be given to Rachel.

&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LI&&RThe Moonstone&&L/I&&R, by &&LB&&RWilkie Collins&&L/B&&R, is part of the &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R&&LI&&R &&L/I&&Rseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R: &&LDIV&&RNew introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics &&L/I&&Rpulls together a constellation of influences―biographical, historical, and literary―to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R &&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&RAlongside Edgar Allan Poe in America, Britain’s &&LB&&RWilkie Collins&&L/B&&R stands as the inventor of the modern detective story. &&LI&&RThe Moonstone&&L/I&&R introduces all the ingredients: a homey, English country setting, and a colorfully exotic background in colonial India; the theft of a fabulous diamond from the lovely heroine; a bloody murder and a tragic suicide; a poor hero in love with the heroine but suspected of the crime, who can’t remember anything about the night the jewel was stolen; assorted friends, relatives, servants, a lawyer, a doctor, a sea captain―suspects, all; and, most essentially, a bumbling local policeman and a brilliant if eccentric London detective. Adding spice to the recipe are unexpected twists, a bit of dark satire, a dash of social comment, and an unusual but effective narrative structure―eleven different voices relate parts of the tale, each revealing as much about himself (and, in one case, herself) as about the mystery of the missing Moonstone.&&LBR&&R&&LBR&&RFilled with suspense, action, and romance, &&LI&&RThe Moonstone&&L/I&&R is as riveting and intoxicating today as it was when it first appeared more than a century ago.&&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R &&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LB&&RJoy Connolly&&L/B&&R teaches in the Classics Department at New York University. Her recent research includes the history of rhetoric and political thought, and the relationship of literature and ethics. She writes book reviews for the New York Times and other publications.&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R

The Moonstone by Wilkie CollinsHow is this book unique? Illustrations IncludedThe Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century British epistolary novel, generally considered the first detective novel in the English language. The story was originally serialised in Charles Dickens' magazine All the Year Round. The Moonstone and The Woman in White are considered Wilkie Collins' best novels. Besides creating many of the ground rules of the detective novel, The Moonstone also reflected Collins' enlightened social attitudes in his treatment of the servants in the novel. Collins adapted The Moonstone for the stage in 1877, but the production was performed for only two months.

The Moonstone, a priceless yellow diamond looted from an Indian temple, is bequeathed to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday, but it is stolen again that very night. No one is above suspicion as the indefatigable Sergeant Cuff pieces together a series of events as mystifying as an opium dream and as deceptive as the nearby Shivering Sand. T. S. Eliot praised The Moonstone as “the first…and the best of modern English detective novels.” To this day, it draws the reader into its world of danger, suspense, and societal anxiety. Collins unmasks a restrictive society marked by sexual and imperial domination, as well as the often-ignored underside of Victorian life. In his hands, facts, identities, and memory are only transient. This spellbinding mystery, narrated in turn by characters highborn and lowborn, is a fascinating excursion into the shadows that lie just beyond the ordered landscape of English society. With an Introduction by Alev Lytle Croutier and an Afterword by Lillian Nayder

"[T]the first and the greatest English detective novel…" —T. S. Eliot Originally published in 1868, The Moonstone is widely considered one of Wilkie Collins' best novels. The titular stone is an enormous diamond plundered from an Indian shrine after the Siege of Seringapatam. Given to Miss Verinder on her 18th birthday, it mysteriously disappears that very night. Suspicion falls on three Indian jugglers who have been seen in the neighborhood.This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

How is this book unique?Font adjustments & biography includedUnabridged (100% Original content)Formatted for e-readerIllustratedAbout The Moonstone By Wilkie CollinsThe Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century British epistolary novel, generally considered the first detective novel in the English language. The story was originally serialised in Charles Dickens' magazine All the Year Round. The Moonstone and The Woman in White are considered Wilkie Collins' best novels. Besides creating many of the ground rules of the detective novel, The Moonstone also reflected Collins' enlightened social attitudes in his treatment of the servants in the novel. Collins adapted The Moonstone for the stage in 1877, but the production was performed for only two months.

Considered the first ever English detective novel, The Moonstone is a brilliant investigation of the disappearance of a precious diamond of the same name. Told from the multiple viewpoints of various fascinating characters, it's a gripping tale of intrigue that is an absolute page turner. His earlier novel, Woman in White, and The Moonstone are thought to be Collins' best works. Just as accessible and enjoyable for today's modern readers as it would have been when first published almost 150 years ago, the novel is one of the great works of English literature and continues to be widely read throughout the world.This meticulous digital edition from Heritage Illustrated Publishing is a faithful reproduction of the original text and is beautifully illustrated with a number of atmospheric historical paintings that reflect the mood of the novel.