The short story "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant tells the story of Mathilde Loisel, a woman who longs for a life of luxury beyond her means. When she borrows an expensive diamond necklace from her wealthy friend to wear to a ball, she loses the necklace and spends the next 10 years repaying the cost to replace it with her husband. The central theme is the irony that the expensive necklace Mathilde ruined her life to replace turns out to have been fake all along.