For most women, diamonds prompt reveries of fairytale engagements, or at least daydreams of Marilyn Monroe. For journalist Alicia Oltuski, they connote family. Her paternal grandfather was a diamond dealer; he once traded a single stone for condensed milk, marmalade, and honey when he was a displaced person in Germany just after World War II. Oltuski’s father also dealt in gems—buying and selling antique jewelry on West 47th Street, the heart of New York City’s diamond district. In her new book,...
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