The novel is set in Yorkshire in 1848, at the residence of the Lady Julia Verinder and her

wealthy family. It was narrated by the Verinders’ butler Gabriel Betteredge, who explained
that the family lawyer Mr. Bruff and Mr. Franklin Blake must put together a written record
of the Diamond’s theft. Also we are told that Franklin Blake returned to England at the age
of 25, after more than a decade living and attending schools in Europe, to which his father
had sent him. The same day as Franklin’s arrival, three Indian men who appear to be
traveling magicians came to the Verinder residence.
After that Betteredge then tried to comfort the ex-convict (колишня засуджена) maid
Rosanna Spearman at the Shivering Sand, but Franklin Blake showed up unexpectedly and
Rosanna left.
At the Shivering Sand, Franklin revealed a secret to Betteredge: he had the Moonstone,
which Colonel Herncastle had willed to Rachel Verinder as her 18th birthday present.
Franklin proclaimed that the Diamond carries a curse. Angry at his family, who shun him,
he left it in his will as a birthday gift to his niece Rachel, thus exposing her to attack by the
stone's hereditary guardians, who will stop at nothing to retrieve it. Also Franklin noticed a
suspicious Indian-looking man follow him to the bank and he thought he might have
something to do with the three jugglers who had shown up in Yorkshire. But the bank was
still the safest place for the Diamond, and Franklin left it there for the month until Rachel’s
birthday. During this month, the Indians disappear and Rachel and Franklin grow very
close, painting her bedroom door together for hours and inciting (підбурюючи) suspicion
about whether their marriage. But Franklin has competition: the wealthy, handsome, and
charitable Godfrey Ablewhite, another cousin of Rachel’s, would come for her birthday and
was clearly seeking her hand.
On Rachel’s birthday, Franklin gave Rachel the Diamond, and Lady Julia was immediately
distraught to hear (збентежена почути) it had come from her estranged (відчужений)
brother. At dinner, 24 guests join the family, including doctor Mr. Candy. Sure enough, the
next morning, someone stole the Diamond from Rachel’s room, although the Indians could
not have possibly entered the house.
Local police officer Superintendent Seegrave came to the scene and declared that the thief
was “some person in the house.” He interrogated (допитував) everyone, infuriated
(обурює) Rachel, and searched the servants’ possessions. Fortunately, the illustrious
London detective Sergeant Cuff soon arrived and began a more tactful investigation; he
immediately realized that a paint smear on Rachel’s door could lead to the killer’s identity,
since it must have happened late the previous night, the same time as the Diamond’s
disappearance. But Rachel was the only one who refused to let Cuff search her possessions.
She also grew furious with Franklin Blake despite their relationship, and refused to talk
with him. Rosanna, who also seemed to be in love with Franklin, began behaving strangely
and aroused (ерАусд) (викликала) everyone’s suspicion. Cuff investigated that Rosanna
had recently replaced her nightgown (likely the one stained with the paint from Rachel’s
door) and was also planning to leave her job. But when Rachel decided to leave home for
some time, Cuff realized that the Diamond was never stolen, and that Rachel still had it.
The same day, Cuff discovered that Rosanna had drowned herself at the Shivering Sand. He
reported to Lady Julia that he believed Rosanna and Rachel were working together; Julia
instead decided to tell Rachel about Rosanna’s death. Rachel declared “she had never
spoken a word in private to Rosanna.” Julia took her to London and fired Cuff, who left
after predicting that Betteredge will soon hear from the three Indians, a London gem dealer
named Septimus Luker, and Rosanna’s friends, the Yolland family. Astonishingly, all three
came true: Limping Lucy, the Yollands’ daughter, left a letter for Franklin Blake (who has
already left for Europe), and the newspaper reported that “three Indians” had been
disturbing Mr. Luker in London.
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The novel’s second narrator is the hypocritical Christian fanatic Miss Clack, Julia’s niece.
As soon as Julia and Rachel arrived in London, Clack started a conversation with Franklin
and Betteredge. She next reported that the three Indians attacked and searched not only
Luker, who deposited (депОсітід - поклав на зберігання )the Moonstone in his bank for
safekeeping, but also Clack’s beloved Godfrey, who had donated money to charity. This
aroused suspicion about Godfrey’s possible role in the theft, but he appeared to be innocent.
In private, Julia revealed to Miss Clack that she was terminally ill (смертельно хворa) and
asked Clack to serve as a witness for the signing of her will; Clack was excited by Julia’s
death. Clack begins at once by offering Julia numerous religious pamphlets, which she
rejects, and then hiding them strategically around her house. After that Clack discovered
that Godfrey was visiting, she hid in the curtains and was watching how Godfrey proposed
marriage to Rachel, and then persuaded her to accept.
One day, the lawyer Mr. Bruff visited and talked with Rachel; the next day, Rachel declared
she “ will never marry Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite.” She told Godfrey and he yelled at Rachel.
The novel’s next narrator was the lawyer Mr. Bruff, who first explained why Rachel and
Godfrey really ended their engagement: Godfrey only wanted Rachel’s money.
AFTER THAT: Franklin Blake, editor of all the narratives, took over the story with his
return to England because of his father’s death in 1849. When he arrived, he remembered
his history with Rachel and wanted to win back her heart, or at least discover why she so
suddenly had turned against him after the Moonstone’s theft and had refused to contact him
since. He went to Yorkshire and received the letter Rosanna had left to Limping Lucy, in
which Rosanna had directed him to pull up a chain at the Shivering Sand. At the end of this
chain, he found a case with a letter and a paint-stained nightgown inside. But the nightgown
was not Rosanna’s; it was his own. Franklin and Betteredge read Rosanna’s letter. She told
about her love for him and explained that she had hidden his stained nightgown and made
him a new one. Franklin felt guilty for unwittingly (анвідінглі) contributing to Rosanna’s
suicide, but also still did not understand how he could have stolen the Diamond, since he
was not drunk and did not sleepwalk.
After their meeting, Franklin returned to Yorkshire. There he met doctor Candy’s assistant
Ezra, a terminally ill but fellow doctor, who learned that, on the night of Rachel’s birthday,
Candy had slipped laudanum (opium) into Franklin’s drink after dinner as a practical joke;
Jennings, who happened to be addicted to laudanum, believed that Franklin could have
easily taken the Diamond under the influence of the drug, but did not remember nothing of
it the next morning. He proposed an experiment: they will recreate the events of the
previous year, from Franklin quitting smoking to resetting the house exactly as it was on the
night of the theft, and then slip Franklin laudanum again and see what happens. Franklin
agreed and they began preparing for the experiment. Ezra Jennings’s journal, the next
section of the narrative, covered the preparations leading up to his “experiment” with
Franklin Blake; Rachel herself also insisted on being present, as she hoped the experiment
could exonerate (ікзОнерейт - виправдовувати) Franklin. On the night of the experiment,
Jennings slipped Franklin the laudanum and talked to him about the Diamond; at night,
Franklin got up in a daze and walked to Rachel’s room, grabbed the experiment’s decoy
Diamond, and fell asleep in Rachel’s sitting-room. The experiment both succeeded and
failed: it proved that Franklin had stolen the Diamond; but it did not give any clue as to
where the Diamond might be now.
Franklin Blake picked up the narrative again for the next section, in which he went with Mr.
Bruff and Sergeant Cuff to search for the Diamond in London. They watch Mr. Luker took
the Moonstone out of the bank and then followed various suspects for the rest of the day;
The group of investigators followed the sailor and then he was found dead in his room,
from which the Indians seem to have stolen the Moonstone. Cuff realized that the sailor was
wearing a disguise (діскАйз - маскування); he pulled it off and revealed the man suspected
of the crime was Godfrey. The final narrative is from Gabriel Betteredge who announced
that Franklin and Rachel had married, and Rachel was pregnant. The end of the novel
explains how the Indians brought the Moonstone back to their country.