The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau

By: Kristin Harmel

Narrated by: Madeleine Maby, Kristin Harmel

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

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.

What an amazing book

She did it again. Kristin Harmel wrote another amazing book. Once I started reading, it was hard to do anything else but continue to finish the story. The narrator did a fantastic job, especially with accents. Parts made me angry and parts made me cry, some for sadness and some for happiness. I loved how she used an old story (Robin Hood) and intertwined it with World War II and present day. I also liked how she wrote past and present going back and forth with her chapters. I highly recommend this book.

Narration Could’ve Been Better!!!

The story was heartfelt and beautifully told, but I certainly thought this performer delivered it without adding anything to her presentation of the different characters… She sounded bland and her voice being lifeless caused me to loose interest several times throughout my listening. Just wish somebody with more of a spark would have done the narration.

A WW2 STORY SET IN FRANCE WHEN PEOPLE FOUGHT THE GERMANS

Author Kristin Harmel’s tells of a woman who is a thief that steals from the rich and gives to the money to the poor. She steals diamonds and other jewelry. She also helps to build a museum to display
Art by Paris citizens. The police are trying to find and arest her. The story also is about love in this dangerous time. Mothers worry that their children will be taken away by police if they walk to school. Or will be killed by bombs. Young women are worried that the men they are dating may be killed.
This story also is about American women being worried that their husbands may also be asked
to fight. And they are. When the war ends, some French women in this audiobook come to the USA to live and marry men there.

This was super!

This was a wonderful book and so well written! She keeps you guessing up until the end! You feel as though you are right there!

Good and unique story

This was a unique storyline for WWII. I appreciate the clean story without a lot of sex or hard to hear battles. It had emotional moments.
What I didn’t like was the last 1/3-1/4 of the book. It felt like it drug on and on.