The Sutcliffe Diamonds — Janet Quin-Harkin

From the New York Timesâ€"bestselling author, a young woman goes in search of her family's missing heirloom and discovers an ancestral history of forbidden love.
 
In the months before the French Revolution, two young girls are given a precious gift by Queen Marie Antoinette -- a diamond necklace, both valuable and rare -- a token their aristocratic mother tells them will one day ensure their independence. The legacy of those diamonds will connect generations of remarkable women . . .
 
In Regency England, Laura Sutcliffe uses the inherited jewels to escape an arranged marriage -- and discovers a love far greater than riches.
 
In present-day California, another Laura Sutcliffe has fallen in love for the first time. But her parents don't approve of her choice and, hoping to put time and distance between Laura and her new romance, they send her off to England for a whirlwind tour of her family history. But traipsing through drafty castles with Grandmama to look at boring old armor only has Laura daydreaming of her dreamy boyfriend. Until she encounters a portrait of a woman whose likeness to her is astonishing -- and learns how the now-lost family jewels once brought her namesake independence. Now Laura is determined to find her missing family legacy, certain it will guarantee her own freedom. As she follows the trail of the Sutcliffe Diamonds, and the exhilarating stories of love lost and found, she comes face-to-face with her own destiny.
 
Sweeping from England to Australia, and from Paris to San Francisco, The Sutcliffe Diamonds is a riveting family saga of passionate and unforgettable women.