Wilkie COLLINS, The Moonstone, Penguin Readers, C1 3000 Headwords

By Toni Munar, 1º Bachillerato EFL

The Moonstone is a diamond which adorned a statue of the Indian god Moon. It had been taken by an invading army 800 years ago, it is supposed to carry a curse and it causes all the troubles in the story. It was brought from India by the protagonist’s uncle who has it given to her as a birthday present, after his death. Rachel wears it at her 21^st birthday party. But the same night it disappears, and Rachel and Rosanna know who the thief is, although they say nothing. An investigation to find the diamond is opened, but by the time it finishes everybody moves to another place. About a year later, Franklin Blake, Rachael’s cousin, receives a letter when he’s in Asia and gets back to London, where he discovers he is the one who had stolen the diamond and ...

The book is good and it does not narrate the story as other books do. This one is told by different characters. This makes the book a bit difficult to read, especially at the beginning, due to all the characters that appear at the same time.

Although I’m sure the original version is much better, I still recommend this one to learners who like mystery books, as it is somewhat similar to Sherlock Holmes’s stories, without all the action and with a lot of love between the two main characters, Rachel and Franklin.