The Victorian novel is a favorite genre of mine and I am pleased to say that in the past eight years I have read some of the great novels from this period. I had yet to read Wilkie Collins however and I was torn. He is best known for two classic novels: The Woman In White and The Moonstone. I went with The Moonstone (1868) and I am happy with my choice.
The Moonstone begins in 1799 when a British officer Colonel John Herncastle while serving in India steals a precious yellow diamond adorning a statue of the Hindu God of the Moon. Herncastle is a bad character who murders three of the Hindu priests guarding the yellow diamond and he takes the gem back to England.
Fast forward and it's 1848. John Herncastle is a an elderly spiteful man and his life has not gone well. He has never been able to shake the rumors of what he did as a young officer in India. He has no friends and his sister, the wealthy Lady Verinder, refuses to see him. Herncastle is furious and writes out his will stating that after his death the yellow diamond will be given to his niece Rachel Verinder, Lady Verinder's daughter, on her 18th birthday. Herncastle is giving the diamond to Rachel not to make amends. He knows that possessing the diamond comes with a curse and so it's his way of getting back at his family.
Herncastle dies and Rachel's eighteenth birthday arrives. Rachel is thrilled to receive the diamond not knowing it's backstory. But her mother and her cousin Franklin Blake do know or they suspect something and they are worried. Also three mysterious Indian men have recently been seen walking the grounds of the Verinder estate.
On the night of Rachel's party all her friends are there including two men who are competing for Rachel's hand in marriage, her cousin Franklin Blake and her other cousin Godfrey Ablewhite. Apparently in the 19th century you could marry your cousin.
Rachel wears the diamond on her dress at the party. It's a festive evening and then the next morning the diamond is missing, a detective is called in and things go downhill with alot of unhappiness for the characters involved. The yellow diamond (the moonstone) does have a curse attached to it but not in the way I originally thought.
It's not that people in posession of the diamond come down with a fatal illness or fall down a flight of stairs. But rather once the diamond goes missing people start suspecting each other, tempers flare, engagements are broken off and in one tragic case a young housemaid of the Verinders with a past that included prison for theft is afraid she will be blamed and though she is not responsible it ends tragically.
The Moonstone is told in the form of a number of first person narrators. My favorite narrator is the butler Gabrielle Betteredge who is certain that all of life's answers can be found in the pages of his well worn copy of Robinson Crusoe. My least favorite character and narrator was Drusilla Clack, a busy body who is constantly forcing her religious pamphlets on friends and relatives. In fact the one complaint I have about The Moonstone is that the eight chapters narrated by Drusilla distracted from the story and should have been omitted. Doing so would have tightened up the book in my opinion.
But otherwise I enjoyed The Moonstone. Along with Bleak House it is considered to be one the first British Detective novels. It is also a romance and I found The Moonstone to be a classic worthy of praise.
I read The Woman in White and The Moonstone a year or two ago and really enjoyed them both but thinking about it I think The Moonstone had the edge for me. I think because of the crime/intrigue element which always appeals to me. I want to read more Wilkie Collins, I've only read one other, and I keep seeing Booktube vids waxing lyrical about other titles. The same for Anthony Trollope. I think I might target several by each author next year and stop prevaricating.
ReplyDeleteHi Cath, The crime element is why I went with The Moonstone as well. From reading I know that Wilkie Collins was.good friends with Charles Dickens. I wish I could get into Charles Dickens but Great Expectations didn't do anything g for me. But I am looking at two more books from him, Our Mutual Friend and Bkeak House before I move on. Good luck next year reading more books by Trollope and Collins, both great writers.
DeleteYes, the book Drood by Dan Simmons featured the friendship between Dickens and Collins but with a supernatural bent. It's one of those books people seem to either love or hate, I personally loved it and would like to read it again at some stage. Our Mutual Friend is on my shelf to read next year. I saw that Katie Lumsden is a huge fan of the book and thought it was time I gave it a go. Not a huge fan of Great Expectations, prefer Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.
DeleteDrood sounds like an interesting historical novel with
Deleteghostly aspects. And you get to know about these two great authors and the times they lived in. Regarding David Copperfield never read it but did see the movie with Edna Mae Oliver as Aunt Betsy I believe the character's name is and she was great in the role.
Cath beat me to it on the Dan Simmons book. I really loved the relationship between Collins and Dickens in that weird novel and would re-read it again at some point. I haven't read Collins yet myself but came away from Drood fully intending to do it immediately...with predictable results. Your review of this one has rekindled my interest in Mr. Collins.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam, Wilkie Collins is worth reading and I prefer him to Dickens. But I need to give Charles Dickens more of a chance. Maybe Our Mutual Friend and Bleak House. I definitely plan to read Drood..
DeleteI really need to reread this book. I read it ages ago and in reading your review, I realized I didn't remember most of it. I really like Woman in White, which I ranked above The Moonstone, but now I want to dive into this one right away.
ReplyDeleteHi Jane, I am thinking I should also read The Woman In White. I am hearing good things. The Moonstone is a detective mystery but not a straight mystery story in that it is also a romance which shares equal billing. So people should know that going in. I enjoyed the book, felt it was very well written and plan to give Drood a try soon.
Delete1868 is a pretty early story for the mystery genre. I'm glad you liked it. I didn't realize you like Collins more than Dickens, wow. I have not read him and have read just two Dickens which I loved. I'm really curious about this Drood novel by Simmons that people are talking about. Seems intriguing. I will put it on the list. Were the two authors really friends? Good job on your Victorian read.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan. I need to read another book or two from Dickens. Great expectations didn't do it for me but Our Mutual Friend might. Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins were good friends although just now in researching I stumbled upon this:
ReplyDelete"From the time they first met while acting in a play, the Victorian novelists Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins were apparently the best of friends. However, the records of a book which has been missing for more than a century reveal there was more to their relationship than met the eye" - BBC
I still want to think of them as friends though.
That's a surprising finding. Who knows ... I guess.
DeleteI liked The Moonstone, too, though A Woman in White will always be my favorite Wilkie Collins' novel. :D
ReplyDeleteI have heard good things about The Woman In White and The plot sounds interesting.
DeleteKathy, I am sorry I waited so long to comment. I want to read The Moonstone, but as usual the length deters me. I did read The Woman in White and I thought that was a great read, so I am sure I will have the same experience when I read The Moonstone, once I get over my problem with the length. I bought a copy at the book sale and I think it will have large enough print so that I can read it fairly comfortably. That is another problem with long books. And I have an ebook copy, which would be easy to read. Maybe I need to break it up into pieces. I will think about this more.
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy, no problem at all. I love hearing from you and checking your reviews because you recommend such great books.
DeleteThe Moonstone is long and you have to pace yourself. Maybe 40 pages a night. It's my first time reading a novel by Wilkie Collins and I enjoyed it and he is very talented. The book has multiple narrators and I liked some more than others but all told I thought it was a quintessential Victorian novel and a very good one.