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Audiobook edition · 11 h 13 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Moonlight falls on a still pool, and ancient ruins become the threshold of something human reason cannot measure.
Dr. Walter Goodwin trusts evidence, instruments and logic. Then his friend Dr. David Throckmartin brings him a mystery from Nan-Matal, the huge stone ruins on Ponape in the Caroline Islands. Throckmartin’s expedition does not return whole. His wife Edith’s fate gives the men a reason to act, and the ruins draw them back.
Goodwin joins Irish adventurer Larry O’Keefe in a search that leads beyond the familiar world. The Moon Pool opens onto a realm beneath the earth, lit by something other than the sun. In Abraham Merritt’s science fiction adventure, a scientist’s careful account meets strange light, growing dread and people whose world challenges everything he knows.
What you’ll discover
- Ruins under moonlight Enter Nan-Matal, where a beam of moonlight falls upon the pool at the mystery’s heart.
- A scientist facing wonder Follow Goodwin as the evidence before him strains the reach of instruments and logic.
- Courage with a grin Meet Larry O’Keefe, whose humor and love of fairy lore accompany him into the impossible.
- A world beneath ours Explore a hidden realm with its own light, its own people and its own gods.
- Wonder edged with dread Feel the pull of the unknown through rich color, strange sights and a witness’s grave account.
Who will love it
Readers who love lost worlds, glowing caverns and old-fashioned scientific marvels will feel at home here. It also suits anyone who enjoys a bold Irish hero and a villain both lovely and chilling.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A friend's face carries impossible feelings
- Love draws Throckmartin into the chamber
- Different companions share the same quest
- The moon door reveals another world
- Cruel rulers call their violence justice
- The creators reveal their creature's flaw
- Love stands against the hunger for power
- Light and music make danger visible
- Love and fear shape each encounter
Who’s who
- Dr. Walter GoodwinA careful American botanist who tells the story and sets out to find a lost friend, testing every marvel against his science.
- Larry O'KeefeA cheerful half-Irish airman in the Royal Flying Corps who trusts banshees at home, laughs at danger and falls in love at first sight.
- Olaf HuldrickssonA giant Norwegian sea captain whose wife and daughter are taken by the sparkling devil and who wants them avenged.
- LaklaThe golden-eyed handmaiden of the Silent Ones, gentle and fierce, who commands a vine of living death and a loyal frog people.
- YolaraThe beautiful, cruel priestess of the Shining One, who wants Larry for herself and dreams of ruling the world.
- LugurThe red-clad Voice of the Shining One, broad and proud, who plots conquest beside Yolara and hates the strangers.
- MarakinoffA cold Russian scientist, called Double Tongue, who seeks the secrets of the underground world for his country and for himself.
- RadorA green-clad Murian captain with a mocking smile who guides the strangers and secretly serves the handmaiden, his niece.
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The Moon Pool
by Abraham Merritt · 1919
A friend's face holds joy and terror at once, and a moon path on the sea races toward his ship.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“The sparkling devil took them!”
In short
What would you do if a friend came aboard your ship wearing a face that held perfect joy and perfect horror at once? That is how The Moon Pool begins.
The Moon Pool at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 35 min5 h 15 min fast, 7 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 94,200 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1919by Abraham Merritt
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A path of moonlight races toward the ship
At Port Moresby, Goodwin boards the Southern Queen for Melbourne. On the pier he spots Throckmartin, an old friend and a gifted scientist. A few weeks earlier Throckmartin left to study the ruins of Nan-Matal with his bride Edith, his colleague Dr. Charles Stanton and the nurse Thora Halversen. Now his face holds a strange union of ecstasy and despair.
That night the clouds part and the moon lays a gleaming lane across the sea, running straight at the ship. Far along it comes something opalescent, lit from within, with seven small lights above it. A sound like tiny glass bells rolls over the water.
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Details
- First published
- 1919
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Merritt, Abraham. The Moon Pool. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moon-pool.
Merritt, A. (2026). The moon pool. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moon-pool (Original work published 1919)
Merritt, Abraham. The Moon Pool. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moon-pool.
@book{merritt2026moon,
author = {Merritt, Abraham},
title = {The Moon Pool},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moon-pool},
note = {First published 1919}
}
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What is The Moon Pool about?
A botanist, Dr. Goodwin, follows a lost friend's trail to ruined islands in the Pacific. A moon door leads him, an Irish airman and a sailor into a hidden land ruled by a priestess and a creature of living light.
Who is the Dweller in the Moon Pool?
The Dweller, also called the Shining One, is a being of light with seven glowing orbs that rises from a pool under moonlight. It draws people into its embrace and marks them with joy and terror at once.
Is The Moon Pool a true story?
No. It is a work of fantasy and science adventure by Abraham Merritt, framed as a scientific report. The ruins of Nan-Matal on Ponape are real, but the hidden land and its beings are invented.
The author
Abraham Merritt
1884–1943 · American fantasy writer
Abraham Merritt (1884–1943) was an American writer and journalist. He was born in Beverly, New Jersey, and worked in Philadelphia and New York City. He wrote fantasy and science fiction. The Moon Pool appeared in 1919, and The Metal Monster in 1920. He also edited The American Weekly.
“The sparkling devil took them!”
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