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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the Moon hides a living world—and the greatest threat to Earth's freedom?
Julian 5th leaves Earth aboard the Barsoom, bound for another planet. The ship never reaches its destination. Instead, the crew discovers a vast world inside the Moon. Here, among unfamiliar peoples, Julian meets Nah-ee-lah, the Moon Maid, whose fate becomes bound to his own.
In The Moon Maid, Edgar Rice Burroughs follows a line of men named Julian across centuries. A voyage into the unknown opens into a struggle over power and freedom. The harsh, warlike Kalkars seek to rule others, while the story asks how a peaceful, advanced people can become vulnerable to conquest.
What you’ll discover
- A world beneath the crust Explore a hollow Moon where the silent surface conceals a vast, inhabited inner world.
- A bond across worlds Meet Nah-ee-lah, whose connection with Julian brings a love story into the strange lunar landscape.
- One family through centuries Follow successive Julians as their family's story stretches from space travel into a harsh future.
- The struggle against power Encounter the Kalkars and a political vision in which the few demand obedience from the many.
- Freedom under threat Consider what happens when a free people lose the strength to defend their way of life.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy pulp adventures on other worlds, sword fights, daring escapes and romance across enemy lines will love this novel. It also suits readers drawn to heroic sagas passed from father to son.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Peace leaves the world exposed
- Private hatred wrecks a shared mission
- Orthis finds allies among their captors
- Knowledge becomes a weapon against Laythe
- A hidden flag preserves forbidden freedom
- Defiance needs more than courage
- The Red Hawk carries an inherited war
- Love crosses the old family divide
- Freedom and hatred pass between generations
Who’s who
- Julian 5thAn air captain born in 2000 who lands in the hollow Moon and wants to protect his crew and Nah-ee-lah.
- OrthisA brilliant, bitter lieutenant commander who hates Julian and sabotages the ship, then seeks power over the Moon and Earth.
- Nah-ee-lahA princess of Laythe with raven hair, captured while flying, who wants to get home and keep her honor.
- Julian 9thA strong young Chicago farmer born in 2100 who guards a family flag and wants his people free again.
- Juana St. JohnA brave girl of nineteen who lost her parents to the Kalkars and finds shelter and love with Julian.
- Or-tisA cruel Kalkar commander in Chicago who wants Juana and hunts the family that defies him.
- Julian 20thThe Red Hawk, a twenty-year-old desert chief in 2434 who leads his clans toward the western sea.
- BetheldaA cheerful, fearless American girl of the hunted Or-tis line, hiding in the hills and wanting a safe home.
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The Moon Maid
by Edgar Rice Burroughs · 1926
Five airmen fall toward a hollow Moon, where a captive girl with raven hair waits among cannibal herds.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Better death than slavery.”
In short
What does a world do with peace after fifty years of war? The Moon Maid opens on a flying liner the night the first message from Mars reaches Earth.
The Moon Maid at a glance
- Reading time
- About 8 h 5 min6 h 25 min fast, 9 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 115,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1926by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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 disarmed world meets a stranger's story
The Moon Maid begins on the Transoceanic Liner Harding on June 10, 1967. The world is celebrating the end of more than fifty years of war. The narrator sits beside an airman who looks sad in the middle of all the joy.
Later, in a shared stateroom, the airman agrees to tell a story he has never told anyone. He claims he has lived before, and that a girl dancing on a tabletop that night once lived through his adventures beside him.
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Details
- First published
- 1926
- Language
- English
- Level
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Cite this edition
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Moon Maid. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moon-maid.
Burroughs, E. R. (2026). The Moon maid. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moon-maid (Original work published 1926)
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Moon Maid. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moon-maid.
@book{burroughs2026moon,
author = {Burroughs, Edgar Rice},
title = {The Moon Maid},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moon-maid},
note = {First published 1926}
}
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What is The Moon Maid about?
It follows three men named Julian across five centuries. One lands inside a hollow Moon and loves a princess, one fights Moon invaders in Chicago, and one leads desert clans to the sea.
Who is Orthis in The Moon Maid?
Orthis is a brilliant but bitter naval officer and inventor who hates Julian 5th. He wrecks their ship, joins the Kalkars on the Moon and becomes the founder of the villainous Or-tis line.
What are the Kalkars?
The Kalkars are the Thinkers, a Moon people who overthrew the old rulers and later followed Orthis to Earth. Their name is a changed form of a word meaning The Thinkers.
The author
Edgar Rice Burroughs
1875–1950 · American adventure novelist
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American writer born in Chicago in 1875. He wrote novels about Tarzan and novels set on Mars. His first Mars story appeared in 1912 and became the book A Princess of Mars in 1917. He later lived in California and died in Encino in 1950.
“Better death than slavery.”
More by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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