On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office—leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.
But Nella’s world changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish her gift, Nella engages the services of a miniaturist—an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways . . .
Enchanting, beautiful, and exquisitely suspenseful, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.
By Molly Quell
There are only two time periods in books set in the Netherlands: World War II or 16th century Amsterdam. The Miniaturist falls into the later category and is an enjoyable, if imperfect, read for a cosy winter evening.
The story opens in 1686 Amsterdam, with the arrival of 18-year old Petronella Oortman at the house of her new home. Nella, as she introduces herself, is not greeted by her new husband, prominent merchant Johannes Brandt, but his spinster sister and household staff.
The 39-year-old Brandt, the reader learns, is friendly enough but not too friendly, leaving Nella mostly on her own and the marriage unconsummated. He does give her a miniature version of the house they occupy on the Herengracht and a large budget to furnish it. To do so, Nella employs a mysterious miniaturist who begins to send spooky and prophetic objects for the dolls house.
The main character is named after an actual 17th century Dutch woman, who married a man by the same name as the book’s husband. The dolls house owned by the real Petronella Oortman is on display in the Rijksmuseum and was the inspiration for the novel.
The Miniaturist is part gothic horror, part domestic drama. The suspense will keep you turning the page and the writing is very readable, even though the characters leave something to be desired.
The heroine, for example, has an unbelievable amount of poise for a naive teenager from the countryside. The relations between the characters aren’t very well-developed, leading to the plot being pushed along by unsubstantiated choices.
As an easy read The Miniaturist is very much in line with a spate of other novels inspired by the Dutch Golden Age. Tulip Fever, Van Rijn, and Girl with the Pearl Earring offer up similar themes and settings.
Character development problems aside, the book was a wild success. It was the subject of a bidding war at the 2013 London Book Fair, netting author Jessie Burton a six-figure advance. When it was published in 2014, it became a Sunday Times bestseller and was the 2014 Waterstones Book of the Year winner.
It’s now sold over one million copies in 37 countries and was made into a 2017 BBC television miniseries. The sequel, The House of Fortune, was published in 2022.
Note: This book review was previously published on DutchNews.
