Captivating story with unexpected plot twists
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau
Gallery Books
June 17, 2025
Kindle, Audiobook, Hardcover
384
Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, Annabel: take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance.
But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an exquisite diamond bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown for safekeeping. Soon after, Annabel was executed, and Liliane’s body was found floating in the Seine—but the bracelet was nowhere to be found.
Seventy years later, Colette—who has “redistributed” $30 million in jewels over the decades to fund many worthy organizations—has done her best to put her tragic past behind her, but her life begins to unravel when the long-missing bracelet suddenly turns up in a museum exhibit in Boston. If Colette can discover where it has been all this time—and who owns it now—she may finally learn the truth about what happened to her sister. But she isn’t the only one for whom the bracelet holds answers, and when someone from her childhood lays claim to the diamonds, she’s forced to confront the ghosts of her past as never before. Against all odds, there may still be a chance to bring a murderer to justice—but first, Colette will have to summon the courage to open her own battered heart.
“But please always remember, my dear, that there is a difference between a life that honors the past and a life dictated by it. When you let your history shape your future, you relinquish the ability to choose a better way forward.”
Kristin Harmel continues to refine her skill as a story-teller and conveyor of history in her latest endeaver, The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau or as it is marketed in Europe, All the Diamonds in Paris. This book is stunning in so many ways just like the diamonds at the center of this dual-timeline story that spans wars, continents, and generations. Told with Kristin’s trademark talent of melding historical accuracy and an emotionally captivating plotline, The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau will linger in your thoughts for weeks after you are done.
Colette Marceau was raised in Paris with an awareness that she was descended, through her mother, from the infamous Robin Hood. Her skills as a theif were honed from a young age with the understanding that they must only be used to help those less fortunate. When the Germans invaded France in the early 1940s, fourteen year old Colette begins using her talents to aid her mother in supporting the resistance and their Jewish friends. But a pair of separated, matching butterfly bracelets and series of tragic events changed the trajectory of Colette’s life and ultimately leading her to seek the bracelets reunion before she dies.
“You’re going to do so much good in the world, my love. I can’t wait to see what the future brings.”
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau took on even more significance for me after learning that Kristin wrote it while going through cancer treatment. She shared in her author’s notes how “that search for self” which she experienced during her cancer journey “goes into the very heart of this story, too.” I can totally attest that it did. Kristin deftly weaves contemplative moments into an engaging mystery that spans decades as well a very personal story of loss, love, and learning how to live a life that makes a difference. I loved both old and young Colette and found my affection for her grow page after page. Just as a diamond is initially interesting but becomes more beautiful as one sees all its different facets and even flaws, so did Colette become more attractive as more about her life, triumphs and struggles, unfolded page after page. All this is elevated by a plot that moves seamlessly between 1940s Paris and modern day Boston and is centered around a pair of custom, butterfly diamond bracelets that were separated during the Nazi occupation of France. This story and the truth behind what happened to the lost bracelet and where it ended up all these years is a page-turner from beginning to end! Finally getting that answered would have been a five star read for me, but just when I thought Kristin nailed it with a great plot twist finale she added in a second for good measure that left me happy for days.
Tanya’s love for books has been a lifelong passion that she likes sharing with others. Reading is also the thing that relaxes her after a day of juggling the many responsibilities that come with being being wife to an amazing man, mother to four great kids spread around the world, business manager, and farm hand on their place in southwest Missouri; home to Akaushi cattle and a menagerie of pygmy goats, horses, chickens, dogs and cats.
