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A review by leventmolla
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
4.0
This is an interesting novel in the 17th century in the prospering city of Amsterdam. 18-year old Petronella (aka Nella) is the daughter of a farmer in Assendelft. When her father dies and the family is in dire straits, a marriage is arranged and she gets married to a 40 year old wealthy merchant. Johannes Brandt is one of the stars of the prospering Amsterdam market, he's importing luxury goods from far-away locations and makes a good profit.
When Nella joins her husband in Amsterdam, she finds a nice house, a maid and a servant, but also her husband's sister-in-law Marin. Johannes is frequently away on trips and he does not show any interest in his new bride. Nella tries to get used to her new life and in the meantime tries to arrange some miniature objects for her new cabinet house, a small replica of the actual house they are living in. She orders some miniature objects from a miniaturist and is surprised when she gets objects that she did not order. As more and more orders arrive, these objects take a sinister character and seem to prophesy events that will occur. As she's trying to find out who is behind these unsolicited gifts, she will discover a terrible secret about her husband that will bring the family quickly to the brink of destruction.
This is a very well-written period novel, providing a very realistic description of Amsterdam and the ultra-conservative Dutch Society in the heydays of the Dutch East India Company. Unfolding events show us how intolerant the society is about people or events that are outside the norm. However, I finished the novel with a sense of missing accomplishment. I felt that Nella's story was not really completed, albeit with a lot of revealed secrets and unexpected events. Namely the focus has shifted from Nella's story to another axis and I'm not totally convinced that this is the right literary approach to take. I felt that Burton did a very good job and carried the story well into its conclusion, but then dropped the ball in the last moment. Still a very interesting story and an intriguing era and an interesting debut novel (published in 2015) from a young British author.
When Nella joins her husband in Amsterdam, she finds a nice house, a maid and a servant, but also her husband's sister-in-law Marin. Johannes is frequently away on trips and he does not show any interest in his new bride. Nella tries to get used to her new life and in the meantime tries to arrange some miniature objects for her new cabinet house, a small replica of the actual house they are living in. She orders some miniature objects from a miniaturist and is surprised when she gets objects that she did not order. As more and more orders arrive, these objects take a sinister character and seem to prophesy events that will occur. As she's trying to find out who is behind these unsolicited gifts, she will discover a terrible secret about her husband that will bring the family quickly to the brink of destruction.
This is a very well-written period novel, providing a very realistic description of Amsterdam and the ultra-conservative Dutch Society in the heydays of the Dutch East India Company. Unfolding events show us how intolerant the society is about people or events that are outside the norm. However, I finished the novel with a sense of missing accomplishment. I felt that Nella's story was not really completed, albeit with a lot of revealed secrets and unexpected events. Namely the focus has shifted from Nella's story to another axis and I'm not totally convinced that this is the right literary approach to take. I felt that Burton did a very good job and carried the story well into its conclusion, but then dropped the ball in the last moment. Still a very interesting story and an intriguing era and an interesting debut novel (published in 2015) from a young British author.