Historical Fiction · Free kit
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau
At eighty-nine, Boston jewel thief Colette Marceau has spent a lifetime following her mother Annabel’s code: take only from the cruel and unkind, give to those who need it. Across decades she has quietly redirected fortunes — including toward the Boston Center for Holocaust Education — while the world believes she is merely a glamorous eccentric. When twin butterfly bracelets from 1927 Paris surface in a museum loan, Colette and her protégé Aviva are pulled into a dual-timeline mystery that reaches back to Resistance work, a child lost in the Seine, and a sister who may not be dead after all.
“We do not steal for ourselves. We take from those who have taken too much — and we give where the law will not.”
Complete free book club kit
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Plan your meeting
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau Hosting Guide
A free, printable-minded plan for hosting The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau.
Invite hook
“What if the most generous person you know built her fortune by stealing only from the cruel — and one museum loan exposes every secret?”
The question you’re arguing about: If you lived by a family code the law rejected, would you still be proud at eighty-nine?
Shopping list
- □Jewel-tone napkins or table runner (sapphire, burgundy, emerald — no costume uniforms)
- □Simple Paris-Boston spread: good bread, butter, macarons or petits fours, grapes, soft cheese
- □Sparkling water and wine optional; tea/coffee for a museum-board vibe
- □Small vase with one dramatic flower — orchid or single stem, not a “theme party” centerpiece
- □Printed bingo, trivia strips, and debate cards
- □Optional: butterfly-shaped paper clips or modest charm favors (tasteful, not jokey about war)
- □Quiet background playlist: jazz manouche or low instrumental — keep volume conversation-friendly
Day-of timeline
- 0–10 minWelcome + reader icebreakers (no plot spoilers)
- 10–20 minTrivia warm-up — easy/medium first
- 20–55 minDiscussion: warm-ups, then justice-vs-law debates, then deep dives on memory and guilt
- 55–70 minWould You Rather or a speed debate (Colette’s code / museum ethics)
- 70–85 minBingo, one-word ratings, next-book vote — allow silence after heavy Holocaust threads
Surprise touch
Place a single printed “exhibit label” at each seat describing a fictional object guests bring from their own life (a ring, photo, recipe card) — one sentence of provenance. No real stolen goods jokes; the point is how objects carry family truth.
Wrap-up
- □Optional share: one cause you’d fund in secret (icebreaker echo, no pressure)
- □One-word rating + “Paris or Boston timeline?” preference poll
- □Remind guests the kit spoils major reveals if friends are mid-book
- □Vote on next month’s read