The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau
Kristin's New Book is out Today
Dear friends,
Today’s the day our dear friend —and Friends & Fiction co-host — Kristin Harmel’s new book hits stores across the United States and Canada, and we are excited to tell you all about it.
THE STOLEN LIFE OF COLETTE MARCEAU is the story of two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder.
Fiona Davis calls it, “joyous and ultimately triumphant,” and Hazel Gaynor calls it “a dazzling diamond of a novel.” Madeline Martin says that it’s “a fabulous tale of heartbreak and bravery and just how hard one will fight for those they love…. Kristin Harmel has done it again.”
The novel–a LibraryReads top ten pick for June–tells the story of Colette Marceau, who 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: take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. But on the terrible night in 1942 that Colette’s mother is arrested in Paris for stealing a priceless pair of diamond bracelets from a high-ranking German officer, Colette’s little sister is taken, along with one half of the bracelet pair. Her body is later found floating in the Seine River, but the bracelet has disappeared without a trace…
…Until seven decades later when Colette—who’s still stealing jewels to anonymously fund worthy organizations—spots it 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.
We hope you’ll pick up THE STOLEN LIFE OF COLETTE MARCEAU. And we hope that if you’re close to where Kristin will be on tour, you’ll go see her. Her full event schedule can be found here. In the next two weeks, she’ll be in New Jersey (tonight, with the whole Friends & Fiction gang!), Delaware, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Massachusetts, South Carolina and southern California, and she’d love to see you at one of her events!
You can find the book at your favorite local independent bookstore, or at Bookshop.org, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM, Hudson airport bookstores, or wherever you buy your books! Canadian readers can find it here, and UK readers can find it here. (The UK title of the book is ALL THE DIAMONDS IN PARIS!)
Happy reading, and don’t forget to join us each Wednesday at 7pm ET on Friends & Fiction as we welcome your favorite authors to talk about some of the season’s buzziest books. Happy reading!
Le Bijou Boulevardier
Our resident mixologist, Ron Block, has come up with the perfect concoction to pair with The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau!
Ingredients:
2 oz. Whiskey (Rye or Bourbon)
1oz. Sweet Vermouth
1oz. Campari
2-4 dashes of Lemon Bitters
Instructions:
Pour all ingredients in a mixing glass over ice. Stir till cold, then strain into your favorite coupe and garnish with lemon peel. Santé!
About the Book
Kristin Harmel, the New York Times bestselling author who “is the best there is at sweeping historical drama” (Kelly Harms, author of The Seven Day Switch), returns with an electrifying new novel about two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet that disappears in 1940s Paris, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder.
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.
About the Author
Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels including The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Room on Rue Amélie, and The Sweetness of Forgetting. She is published in more than thirty languages and is the cofounder and cohost of the popular web series, Friends & Fiction. She lives in Orlando, Florida.
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