Little Thieves – Owen Margaret (2021)

Vanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given, not even a mother’s love. The adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, she has long made her own way in the world as the dutiful servant of Princess Gisele. When her otherworldly mothers demand payment for their care, Vanja decides to steal her future back by stealing Gisele’s life. With the help of an enchanted string of pearls, she transforms into her former mistress and takes her place, leaving the real Gisele a penniless nobody. Vanja now leads a lonely but lucrative double life as princess and jewel thief, charming the nobility while emptying their coffers to fund her escape. But one heist away from freedom, she crosses the wrong god and is cursed to turn into jewels, stone by stone. Pursued by a feral guardian half-god, Gisele’s sinister fiancé and an overeager junior detective, Vanja has just two weeks to carry out her greatest deception yet, or risk losing more than her freedom. Margaret Owen’s irreverent retelling of The Goose Girl is a tale of stolen lives, difficult truths and the wicked girls at its heart.