A Good Read

The Miniaturist by Jess Burton
On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen year old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of the illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, 21 years her senior. The death of Nella’s father left the family in dire straits, saddled with unexpected debts and a declining standard of living Nella’s mother had no option but to find a suitable match for her.
Her new home, while splendid, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse, leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.
As a wedding gift to his bride Johannes acquires a cabinet, a kind of dollshouse that mirrors the Brandt home. Nella engages the services of a miniaturist, a craftsperson, to help fill the house. What she receives is far more than she expected, as the pieces reflect an unerring closeness to the people and events in the family’s life, some frighteningly so. Also, they do not always remain exactly as they were when she’d received them, and they arrive with Delphic messages. Do these tiny constructions predict the future, reflect their owners’ fears and concerns, reveal secrets, tell truths, or offer misdirections? Nella determines to find out who this mysterious miniaturist is and what is behind these small objects.

The Amsterdam of the late 17th century was a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion, a harsh, unforgiving place, where human failing and difference was not tolerated, where neighbours were encouraged to spy and report on neighbours, and where it was always a contest whether the worship of gold or god would hold sway in any given circumstance. The two domains frequently cross paths .

“It is this city. It is the years we all spend in an invisible cage, whose bars are made of murderous hypocrisy”.

The Miniaturist is very well written and Jessie Burton did a massive amount of historical research for it, which definitely enhances the read. There were some fascinating details; for example, I didn’t know that sugar was sold in tall, rounded loaves and was a huge investment item.

I did enjoy this but would have liked more background about the miniaturist, to have him/her have a significant role in the story. There is a follow up book "The House of Fortune" in which the miniaturist appears a few years later. Perhaps it reveals more about him/her.

∼ Happy Reading∼ 

Polly x