The Moon Pool

The story

Botanist Dr. Walter Goodwin hears a terrible story from a friend: on the ruins of Nan Madol in the Pacific, a glowing being rose from a pool of moonlight and took his wife and daughter.

Goodwin follows the trail beneath the islands into a hidden world, where ancient powers fight and the shining Dweller waits for those who look into the Moon Pool.

Themes: lost civilisations, obsession, light and darkness, science and the unknown.

Why it's a good book for language learners

Merritt's style is lush and dramatic, with long descriptive passages full of colour and light. It is a good challenge for advanced readers who want to build a rich descriptive vocabulary and enjoy pulp fantasy.

What you'll practise

• Colour, light and sound vocabulary
• Long descriptive sentences
• Expressing fear and fascination
• Adjective order and intensifiers

Did you know?

The book grew out of a 1918 short story of the same name published in All-Story Weekly.

The PageWalker adventure

In the adventure you go down beneath Nan Madol, and only careful choices bring you back to the surface. The first page is free to play in your browser, and the adventure is available in 13 languages with click-to-translate.

The Moon Pool in other languages

• EnglishThe Moon Pool
• العربيةبركة القمر
• DeutschDer Mondsee
• EspañolEl Estanque de la Luna
• FrançaisLe Gouffre de la Lune
• हिन्दीद मून पूल
• ItalianoIl pozzo della luna
• 日本語ムーン・プール
• 한국어문 풀
• PortuguêsO Poço da Lua
• РусскийЛунная заводь
• TürkçeAy Havuzu
• 简体中文月亮池