The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau

By KristIn Harmel

A DELIGHTFUL AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING NOVEL

  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY

Colette and her mother, Annabel, try to make a difference in their little corner of the world.  Their focus is on volunteering and redistributing wealth by stealing beautiful and valuable jewelry. They live by a heroic code of honor, much like the lore of Robin Hood; these women take only from the corrupt and the evil and give to the poor. They never keep the jewelry for themselves.

When Colette was just ten, her mother taught her how to steal jewelry from the hands, wrists, and necks of the undeserving to fund the French Resistance.  But one night in 1942, everything went wrong. Colette’s mother was arrested, and Liliane, Colette’s four-year-old sister, was kidnapped along with an exquisite diamond bracelet that had been sewn into the hem of her night gown. Colette spent the rest of her life trying to find out who had taken her sister and what had happened to the missing bracelet.

REVIEW

THE STOLEN LIFE OF COLETTE MARCEAU is a delightful, thought-provoking novel that will leave you questioning right and wrong and finding shades of grey. The story alternates between the 1930s and 1940s in Paris and 2018 in Boston.

Author Kirsten Harmel is well-known for her WWII fiction and her ability to find hope in people during desperate times. Colette's unique character serves as the pillar of the story. She is careful and determined, and although she is a jewelry thief, her intentions are honorable. Readers can’t help but wish the absolute best for her.

My favorite part is the fascinating connection between Colette and Robin Hood, the legendary, heroic outlaw. Was Robin Hood merely a character in literature, or can an argument be made that he was an actual living person to whom Colette’s family was related? You must read the author's notes.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advance reading copy of this book. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Publisher    Gallery Books

Published   June 17, 2025

Review       www.bluestockingreviews.com