The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Transformed Their Lives

This book turned out to be a fascinating story and conveyed a message much more important than I would have thought when I picked up the book.

In this non fiction book we meet thirteen women who are all connected by their partial ownership in a beautiful diamond necklace.  When Jonell McLain walks into a jewelry store in Ventura, California she sees a diamond necklace, which is described as looking like the famous tennis bracelet.  A n interesting side note that I learned was why the tennis bracelet is so named,  because Chris Everett was wearing this diamond bracelet during a US Open tennis match and it fell off and she stopped the game to retrieve the bracelet.  Jonell really wants to wear this necklace but cannot really afford to buy it and also does not really want to own it for herself.  She goes home and starts contacting women she knows, some friends, some just acquaintances and asks them to go in on the ownership of this expensive piece of jewelry. 

When Jonell and a number of the women who are interested in participating in this experiment arrive at the store and try on the necklace they are all amazed at how wonderful the necklace looks on each of them.  The owner of the store agrees to the price the women want to pay if they will include his wife in the ownership agreement. 

Now there are thirteen women who each own a turn to wear the necklace for one month of the year.  Most of the women do not know each other at the start of this story and they all come from very different backgrounds and histories.  The author writes a chapter about each of the women as they get their turn to wear the necklace.  Also the women start having monthly meetings discussing how to share the necklace and how each of them feels possessing something of this value and beauty.
These women use an object of exclusivity to create an atmosphere of inclusivity.  Along the way they learn to have empathy and care for each other.  They find out what unites them is stronger than what divides them.

In the end I wanted to try this experiment myself and find a group of women that could share a beautiful necklace and such a wonderful friendship.  It makes me wonder if the friendships I share with my book discussion group is similar though we do not have gorgeous jewelry to share.