Meadows Review March Must Reads By Jina Meadows DIAMOND DORIS by Doris Payne (Memoir)
D
id you see the story of the elderly Black woman who was arrested for stealing from a Wal-Mart in Atlanta a couple of years ago? It created a small stir because she was an eighty-six-year-old Black woman. Many wrote
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it off as her being older and probably not having money to get the things she needed. There was an outcry of sympathy for the feeble-looking Black woman who just needed a few things to survive. Little did the public know that she was international jewel thief, Doris Payne. Diamond Doris is her story narrated in her distinctly humorous voice. This book follows her humble
beginnings in West Virginia to her jet-setting across Europe and gaining access to the most exclusive jewelry stores. Reading, mouth agape, about how she so effortlessly finessed even the most punctilious jewelers made me feel like I was a part of the con! Her life was lived like a movie (and will soon be one). Hey Doris, if you are reading this, teach me.
