Juliette's father is crown jeweler to Louis XIV, the Sun King. When the King purchases the enormous Tavernier diamond, weighing in at a whopping 117 carats, Juliette and her mother think their fortunes are made -- but her father seems to despair. The King wants the diamond cut in the Mazarin style, but Juliette's father doesn't know that secret technique, and doesn't even know where to start with tracking down the gem cutter who created it. As months pass and the diamond remains uncut, the King grows impatient, and Juliette grows worried. Unable to sit back and watch her family sink into ruin, Juliette takes matters into her own hands.

This book was a major surprise for me. I have NO idea where I heard about it or what prompted me to purchase a brand new copy in 2020, or if it was some kind of impulse buy, but it sat on my shelf for a few years because I really wasn't hearing any buzz about it. I picked it up expecting a fairly run of the mill historical fiction novel, but I was immediately drawn in. Mobley has written a fresh, fast-paced adventure story featuring jewelers, of all people, and I couldn't put it down. The story is told with a sort of frame device, with Juliette recounting her tale to love interest Rene after being arrested, and the jumps in the timeline increase the urgency and had me racing toward the end. While Juliette is fictional, the diamond itself is very real, and Mobley as a historian did an excellent job of rooting her tale in history. 4.25 stars, and I'll be looking out for the companion book, The Diamond Keeper. ( )

A fresh and intriguing plot structure. Juliette is the daughter of the French king's jeweler. When this tale begins, she's in chains, suffering extreme pain from broken ribs and a badly burned hand, while being berated by the king because he believes she stole the blue diamond her father was to cut into a stone that would cement King Louis XIV's place in history.
From there, you are taken to the cell where she is to confess to Rene, the handsome scribe she loves, but feels no hope of ever being anything more than a criminal in his eyes. Each chapter takes you deeper into what led her from being a gem cutter's daughter to a prisoner facing execution. The intricate plot, revealed through her confession, written down by Rene, involves a secret way of cutting diamonds believed lost, racial prejudice, backstabbing, intrigue by the bucketful and Juliette's desperate efforts not only to save her father and redeem his reputation, but save her own life. The ending is a dandy one. ( )