Review by Michelle Panik
My bank had written and called—multiple times—with news that they were phasing out safe deposit boxes, and I would need to remove my things. While I clearly remembered some of the box’s contents, which my memory was hazy about others. But they all had to be important; if they weren’t, I wouldn’t have locked them in a bank vault 15 miles from my home. I was halfway through Kim Danielson’s Piece by Piece: A Life of Remembered through Things Lost when I finally went to collect my things. As I drove the final few miles on a winding road, I thought about what it meant to evaluate one’s life by items that hold monetary or personal significance.
Danielson suffers a home-invasion robbery and, in her book, she tells the story of the jewelry stolen from her. The book is organized around chapters that detail the robbery’s aftermath—the family’s shock, their interactions with law enforcement, and the processing of their personal violation—and the lost items themselves. Each item is introduced with a drawing and a factual explanation before delving into her personal connection to it.
Danielson begins with a blue topaz ring. As a primer, the gem’s physical properties and its connection to ancient Greek and Egyptian societies is given. Then, the writer delves into the story of the blue topaz ring her mother gives her on her eighteenth birthday. The gift marks her formal entry into adulthood, and the writer recounts her summer after high school, her cross-country move to college, and a rocky adjustment to her new life. As the memoir continues, Danielson recounts and reflects on another stolen article and, in doing so, assesses that portion of her life.
Other stolen items include Danielson’s platinum wedding band, a Catholic rosary from her grandmother, her college sorority pin, a “push present” necklace, a gold chain of which she was its third-generation-owner, and an African bracelet from her young son. But the author does not wallow in the loss of material possessions. Indeed, Danielson’s telling the story of each object is really a way to tell the story of her life.
The issue of whether the criminal perpetrators will ever be found, and if the items will ever be recovered, runs throughout the book. It certainly kept me turning the pages. As the investigation progresses, the author is frank about simply wanting her things back and not being concerned with punishing the thieves. She opines about the possibility of her items being anonymously returned to her, and then adds, “If things had played out that way, it would have been a miracle. It would have been such a good story” (85). This mystery adds engaging intrigue to what is otherwise a heartfelt reflection on the author’s life and how we are often compelled to make sense of our relationships and lived experiences.
Towards the memoir’s end, Daniels delves into what the thieves didn’t take: a hair clip, a beaded necklace, and a leather bracelet. After reading so many stories about items the author no longer has, the fact that these mementos still remain feels like a triumph.
As I left my bank with the contents of my closed safe deposit box (which were less than I’d remembered in both quantity and significance), I wondered how I would secure my next safe-keeping place, and how many of what I’d taken out of that bank vault even necessitated such a secure place.
In Piece by Piece, Danielson delves into materiality, privilege, and how material objects can provide a springboard into one’s past. It asks what is lost and gained when material things are no longer present. While some of the items the author loses are expensive pieces of jewelry, she doesn’t dwell on materiality. Instead, Danielson observes, “Our artifacts might be evidence we existed. But the stories behind those artifacts are evidence we lived” (228).
Kim Danielson is an attorney-turned-writer and founder of a nonprofit that assists teachers impacted by cancer. Learn more about her and her work at: https://kimdanielson.com
Piece by Piece: A Life Remembered through Things Lost by Kim Danielson
She Writes Press, 2026, $12.99, paper
9798896360582
Michelle Panik is a writer and teacher who lives on the edge of California, in Carlsbad, with her husband and their two kids.