Story summary
Краткое содержание: Лунный камень
- Чтение: 8 мин.
- 7 parts
- Аудио скоро
A sacred yellow diamond vanishes from an English country house, and a rose-loving detective arrives to find it.
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Лунный камень — кратко о книге
Краткое содержание: 8 min на чтение
- Время чтения
- Около 12 h 30 min9 h 55 min fast, 14 h 50 min slow
- Длительность
- Слов: 178 000
- Уровень в библиотеке
- Сложное чтение long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- Первая публикация
- 1868by Уилки Коллинз
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Сколько времени нужно на чтение классики · Обновлено
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Лунный камень in short
The Moonstone begins with a crime in India and moves to a puzzle in England. A sacred diamond is taken by a soldier, left to his niece, and lost from a Yorkshire house on the night of her birthday. A dozen people see parts of what happened.
What Лунный камень is about
What if a stolen jewel could carry a curse across fifty years and two continents? In 1799, as British soldiers storm Seringapatam in India, a dying man points at a dagger and swears that the Moonstone will have its vengeance on the thief and his family. The dagger is held by a young officer named John Herncastle.
Nearly fifty years later, the diamond arrives at a quiet Yorkshire house as an eighteenth birthday present for Rachel Verinder. By the next morning, it is gone. Wilkie Collins wrote The Moonstone in 1868, and it is often called the first English detective novel. He tells it through witnesses, each writing only what he or she saw, and you piece the crime together as they do.
Для кого. Readers who love puzzles, country-house mysteries and the first great detective on the page will find plenty here. It also suits anyone who enjoys comic narrators and sharp portraits of Victorian manners.
The story in 7 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A stolen jewel carries a curse from India
The story begins with a family paper written in India in 1799. A soldier explains to his relatives why he refuses to shake the hand of his cousin, John Herncastle. He gives his word of honor that every line is strictly true.
First he tells the legend of the Yellow Diamond. It once shone in the forehead of a four-armed moon god, and it seemed to brighten and dim with the moon. Vishnu appears to three priests in a dream. He orders them to guard the gem in turn for as long as humankind endures, and he foretells doom for any mortal who seizes it. The priests follow the stone in disguise until it ends up in the dagger handle of Tippoo, Sultan of Seringapatam.
On the night before the assault, Herncastle boasts that the diamond will soon be on his finger. After the city falls, the writer hears a scream and runs to an armory. He finds two dead men at the door and a third dying at the feet of Herncastle, who holds a torch and a bloody dagger with a flashing stone. The dying man says the Moonstone will have its vengeance on Herncastle and his family.
Next morning Herncastle offers his hand and claims not to understand the dying Indian's words. The writer has no proof, so he tells the army nothing and turns away from his cousin for good. He believes that crime brings its own doom.
A single theft, never punished, sets a curse in motion that the whole novel then tests.
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An old steward begins in the wrong place
The main story is told first by Gabriel Betteredge, house steward to Lady Verinder in Yorkshire.
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Three jugglers and a young cousin arrive
On a summer afternoon three Indian jugglers appear on the terrace with a fair-haired English boy.
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Rosanna Spearman carries a hidden wound
Among the servants stands the second housemaid, Rosanna Spearman.
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The Moonstone shines, then vanishes overnight
On June 21, 1848, Rachel turns eighteen and Franklin hands her the diamond.
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Sergeant Cuff trusts small things
Mr. Blake's father sends for Sergeant Cuff of the London detectives.
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Empire, class and many voices build the case
Collins opens with a looting soldier and closes the circle with the men whose god was robbed.
Read all 7 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Gabriel Betteredge The elderly house steward of the Verinder family, loyal and chatty, who trusts Robinson Crusoe to settle every question.
- Franklin Blake Rachel's well-traveled and changeable cousin, who brings the diamond to Yorkshire and wants to win her heart.
- Rachel Verinder The proud, dark-haired young heiress who receives the Moonstone on her eighteenth birthday and guards her own counsel.
- Lady Verinder Rachel's calm and generous mother, who wants to protect her daughter and her household from the diamond's trouble.
- Rosanna Spearman A housemaid with a prison past and a hidden hope, who watches Franklin Blake from the edge of the household.
- Sergeant Cuff A thin, melancholy London detective who loves roses and reads small clues better than anyone around him.
- Godfrey Ablewhite A charming cousin and public speaker for charities, adored by the ladies, who also pays court to Rachel.
- Miss Clack A poor, pious relation who hands out tracts and tells her own part of the story in her own way.
How it ends (spoiler)
Franklin Blake took the diamond himself on the night of the birthday, unaware, because Mr. Candy had secretly given him opium. Godfrey Ablewhite found him in a trance and took the stone to pay his debts. The Indians murder Godfrey and recover the Moonstone. Franklin proves his innocence and marries Rachel. Years later, Mr. Murthwaite sees the diamond restored to the forehead of the moon god at Somnauth, and the priests' long watch ends.
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Вопросы о книге Лунный камень
What is The Moonstone about?
It follows the loss of a sacred Indian diamond from a Yorkshire country house on the night of Rachel Verinder's eighteenth birthday, and the efforts of a steward, a lawyer, a detective and others to find out who took it and why.
Who is Sergeant Cuff?
Sergeant Cuff is the London detective who investigates the theft. He is thin and gloomy, loves growing roses, whistles a sad tune when he thinks, and treats the smallest clues, such as a paint smear, as important.
Why is it called The Moonstone?
The yellow diamond is said to have been set in the forehead of a Hindu moon god and to brighten and dim with the moon. That legend gave the stone the name Moonstone, and the novel follows its curse.
Is The Moonstone a true story, and when was it written?
It is fiction. Wilkie Collins wrote it in the 1860s and it appeared in 1868. Many readers call it the first English detective novel, and it set patterns for later mysteries, including the country-house setting.
Why is The Moonstone told by different narrators?
Collins presents the story as a set of written statements, each by someone who saw part of the events. This lets readers weigh each voice, notice what each leaves out and piece the mystery together like investigators.
Как сослаться на это издание
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moonstone.
Collins, W. (2026). The moonstone. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moonstone (Original work published 1868)
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moonstone.
@book{collins2026moonstone,
author = {Collins, Wilkie},
title = {The Moonstone},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-moonstone},
note = {First published 1868}
}
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