I picked this book up purely because it was written by Wilkie Collins who also wrote The Woman in White; one of my most favourite books of all time. The Moonstone is written in the same style as The Woman in White in that it is made up of narrative by the characters within the book who are associated with events at that time. It's an interesting way of telling the story being more formal than the usual character driven monologues - but then it was written in the 19th century so the language and style of the characters reflects this era. It's essentially an old fashioned detective story with the characters all providing statements regarding the events which occur along the way. The plot is complicated at times but mostly I managed to keep up with it - the biggest difficultly when reading these old classics is getting your head around the language in the first place and getting used to the differences in sentence construction..
The plot focuses on a large yellow diamond called the Moonstone which is stolen from an Indian shine during the British occupation of the territory in all together unsavory circumstances (much like the world-renowned Orlov Diamond). The diamond makes it's way back to England - but not without it's followers. Three Indians who have devoted their lives to returning the diamond to it's rightful position are also in pursuit. When the owner dies he leaves the diamond to his niece, Rachel on her birthday... and in doing so also leaves the threat associated with it. But the same night the diamond is stolen from the house and even after all the inhabitants have been questioned, it's whereabouts remains a mystery. And so the plot follows through with the characters giving their version of events as they happen which ultimately leads to a very unexpected conclusion!
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I really enjoyed reading this book. The story was really good and I had a hard time putting it down. The characters that Collin's has created are great. Some of them are so funny - especially Betteridge, always accompanied by his own version of the holy bible! And Miss Clack - the deliciously irritating bible-toting busy-body. And the end of the story finishes in a way I never anticipated with a good old fashioned plot twist. I can't quite say that this book has managed to usurp the greatness of The Woman in White in my heart, but it's definitely lodged itself there as another favourite due to it's pure genius. Gotta love Wilkie Collins :)
