Mystery · Detective fiction
The Moonstone
Reading level: we suggest CEFR B2–C1 for reading The Moonstone. Length: about 200,000 words.
- Suggested levelB2–C1
- Lengthabout 200,000 words
- Original languageEnglish
The story
A huge yellow diamond, taken from a temple in India during a battle, is left to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday. That same night it disappears from her room.
Sergeant Cuff, a detective who loves roses, investigates. Every servant and guest is a suspect, and the truth comes out only through the written accounts of many different narrators.
Themes: guilt and suspicion, class, colonial plunder, truth and testimony.
Why it's a good book for language learners
The story is told by several narrators, each with a very different voice: a talkative old steward, a religious busybody, a lawyer, a doctor. That makes it a fantastic way to hear many styles of English in one book.
How hard is the English in The Moonstone?
- Flesch Reading Ease76.4
- Flesch–Kincaid grade6.1
- Words per sentence14.3
Measured by PageWalker on the full English text of the book. Flesch Reading Ease runs from 0 to 100 (higher is easier; 60–70 is plain English) and the Flesch–Kincaid grade is a US school grade. These formulas only count sentence and word length, so they miss old-fashioned vocabulary, wordplay and style. That is why our CEFR level, which takes those into account, can be higher than the formula suggests.
What you'll practise
- Narrative voice and register
- Vocabulary of crime and investigation
- Formal Victorian letters
- Making deductions: must have, can't have, might have
Reading tip
After each narrator, write one sentence about what they hide or misunderstand.
Did you know?
T. S. Eliot called The Moonstone “the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels”.
The PageWalker adventure
In the adventure you investigate the theft yourself — accuse the wrong person and the trail goes cold. You can try the first page in your browser, and the adventure is available in 13 languages with click-to-translate.
The Moonstone in other languages
- EnglishThe Moonstone
- العربيةحجر القمر
- DeutschDer Monddiamant
- EspañolLa Piedra Lunar
- FrançaisLa Pierre de lune
- हिन्दीद मूनस्टोन
- ItalianoLa Pietra di Luna
- 日本語月長石
- 한국어월장석
- PortuguêsA Pedra da Lua
- РусскийЛунный камень
- TürkçeAytaşı
- 简体中文月亮宝石
Questions about The Moonstone
What reading level is The Moonstone?
We suggest CEFR B2–C1 for reading The Moonstone. The story is told by several narrators, each with a very different voice: a talkative old steward, a religious busybody, a lawyer, a doctor. On readability formulas the English text scores a Flesch Reading Ease of 76.4 and a Flesch–Kincaid grade of 6.1, with an average of 14.3 words per sentence.
How long is The Moonstone?
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (1868) is about 200,000 words.
Can I play The Moonstone as an interactive adventure?
Yes. In the adventure you investigate the theft yourself — accuse the wrong person and the trail goes cold. You can try the first page in your browser, in 13 languages.
Updated 16 October 2026
