Reading the book was a little like seeing the Wright brothers maneuvering their first aircraft, except there was no awkward bucking, no crashes. Eliot called The Moonstone "the first, the longest, and the best of the modern English detective novel." I could see why. As a writer, I was struck by how masterfully Collins pulls together the different strands of a complicated plot. And I knew the punch line - the criminal's identity - already.Ĭhitra Divakaruni is also the author of One Amazing Thing and Palace of Illusions.īut I was surprised and delighted to discover a whole new set of pleasures in The Moonstone. As a reader I was afraid that I would be disappointed this time around, that the magician's amazing powers might turn out to be a scarf hidden in a sleeve. As a teacher of creative writing, I was dismissive of books that hinged upon plot. As a student of post-colonialism, I knew Wilkie Collins' portrayal of an exotic India (temples, turbaned priests, curses, magical jewels) was suspect. So when I came across a copy of The Moonstone recently in a used bookstore, I picked it up at once - but surreptitiously. I devoured it in a day, and thought back on it with pleasure over the years. And enough twists and turns to keep a reader on tenterhooks until a highly satisfying ending is delivered. A young, beautiful, rich and courageous heroine (who in my mind looked very like me). Enigmatic, dangerous priests who follow it across the ocean in hopes of wresting it back. A mysterious, cursed jewel, wrested from India, only to be stolen later from a great British mansion. The Moonstone was all I could have hoped for. I loved the Classics Illustrated series (the graphic novels of my youth that simplified famous novels for children), presenting us with swashbuckling plotlines, and heroes and villains that were unmistakably, unashamedly, what they were supposed to be. I was about 12 when I first encountered The Moonstone - or a Classics Illustrated version of it - digging through an old trunk in my grandfather's house on a rainy Bengali afternoon. How?Ĭhitra Banerjee Divakaruni's latest book is Oleander Girl. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Moonstone Author Wilkie Collins
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