The Moonstone

The Moonstone (1868) is generally considered the first detective novel written in the English language. The story was originally serialised in Charles Dickens' magazine All the Year Round. The Moonstone alongside The Woman in White are considered Wilkie Collins' best novels. Rachel Verinder, a young English woman, inherits a large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt British army officer who served in India. The diamond is of great religious significance as well as being extremely valuable, and three Hindu priests have dedicated their lives to recovering it. Rachel's eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party, whose guests include her cousin Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who have called at the house. Later that night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues. 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. The Moonstone alongside The Woman in White are considered Wilkie Collins' best novels, both are still widely popular today still brilliant reads.