Rachel Verinder, a young Englishwoman, inherits a large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt English army officer who served in India. The diamond is of great religious significance as well as being enormously valuable, and three Hindu priests have dedicated their lives to recovering it.

Rachel's eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see. Later that night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues.

Told via a series of narratives from some of the main characters, the complex plot traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace the stone and recover it.

Rachel Verinder, a young Englishwoman, inherits a large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday.

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