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The Miniaturist: A Novel Paperback – Illustrated, June 2, 2015
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Now a television miniseries, as seen on Masterpiece on PBS
Set in seventeenth century Amsterdam—a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion—a masterful debut steeped in atmosphere and shimmering with mystery, in the tradition of Emma Donoghue, Sarah Waters, and Sarah Dunant.
”There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed . . .“
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 . . .
Johannes’ gift helps Nella to pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand—and fear—the escalating dangers that await them all. In this repressively pious society where gold is worshipped second only to God, to be different is a threat to the moral fabric of society, and not even a man as rich as Johannes is safe. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction?
Enchanting, beautiful, and exquisitely suspenseful, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.
Review
“The Miniaturist is one of the year’s most hyped novels, and it’s easy to see why. Burton conjures every scent and crackle of Nella’s world. A-” — Entertainment Weekly
“The Miniaturist is that rarest of things - beautifully written, yet also a compelling page-turner. It’s haunting, magical, and full of surprises, the kind of book that reminds you why you fell in love with reading.” — ―S.J. Watson, author of Before I Go To Sleep
‘Utterly transporting...one of those rare debut novels that excels in every regard. The past is brought to life in potent, sensory detail: one feels steeped in it. Burton’s prose beguiles the reader...My first instinct on finishing this book was to immediately read it again.” — Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites
“Burton’s writing is expressive and descriptive. While her prose is rich, it does not overwhelm the story...This historical novel with its strong female characters will appeal to those who enjoy the haunting undercurrents of Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind.” — ―Library Journal
“[A] haunting debut.” — Good Housekeeping
“Jessie Burton nimbly transports contemporary social issues to the 17th century where a costume drama rich in historical detail is embellished with supernatural intrigue…The Miniaturist is a late-harvest summer delight.” — New York Daily News
“As in Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, the pleasure lies in giving in to well-wrought illusions, and the result is a beach read with meat on its bones - perfect for the Labor Day transition from play to work.” — New York magazine/Vulture.com
“Rich in 17th century atmosphere…Debut novelist Jessie Burton has a terrific subject... All those severe portraits of people in dark clothes and starched white ruffs, along with those glossy, death-scented still lifes, spring to life.” — Cleveland Plain Dealer
“A standout portrayal of the wide range of women’s ingenuity.” — Booklist
“A fabulously gripping read that will appeal to fans of Girl With a Pearl Earring and The Goldfinch, but Burton is a genuinely new voice with her visceral take on sex, race and class...” — ―The Guardian
“This debut novel, set in 17th-century Amsterdam, hits all the marks of crossover success: taut suspense, a pluck heroine- and a possibly clairvoyant miniature-furniture designer.” — ―New York magazine
“The Miniaturist is a masterpiece of atmosphere and tension …. The themes Burton explores are as relevant today as they were long ago …. a thoroughly engaging, beautifully written work of historical fiction.” — Washington Independent Review of Books
“In The Miniaturist, Burton uses a historical object - the real Petronella Oortman’s cabinet house in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum - as the springboard for a fantastically spun tale of love and mystery. It’s a story that astutely reflects our own age’s obsessions and prejudices, and it’s one not to be missed.” — Dallas Morning News
“The Miniaturist excels in depicting Amsterdam and its wealthy upper class, and lovers of art and of Amsterdam will be drawn to Burton’s imaginative story, which flows as effortlessly as water down a canal.” — BookPage
“The Miniaturist is an impressive debut… Burton has created a world that, like the cabinet house, draws us in until we feel the dread and mystery and wonder that surround Nella.” — Tampa Bay Times
“In Jessie Burton’s atmospheric debut, The Miniaturist, the powers of love and obsession, sins and secrets, loyalty and forgiveness bind together a cast of sympathetic characters who all have a part to play in a collectively chilling conclusion.” — Shelf Awareness
“A magical, intricate marvel of perfection… with luxurious prose that immerses the reader in the cold, damp of Amsterdam… A book that enchants from beginning to end.” — The Gilmore Guide To Books
“A suspenseful and moving read.” — My Friends are Fiction
“Seventeenth-century Amsterdam comes alive in this meticulously researched, enchantingly told tale.” — Entertainment Weekly (Must List)
“Burton gives her narrative the propulsive drive of a thriller, but her distinctive prose conveys deeper, harder answers than a whodunit. This fine historical novel mirrors the fullness of life, in which growth and sorrow inevitably are mingled.” — Washington Post
“Jessie Burton’s debut novel…has all of the trappings of a historical page-turner: a rich setting in 17th-century Amsterdam, a plot inspired by an antique “cabinet house” located at the renowned Rijksmuseum, and a diverse cast of characters…a perfect amount of authentic detail and a plot that speeds along.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Teen bride Nelly strives to connect with her aloof husband and his spinster sister, but uncovers secrets that, in intolerant 1686 Amsterdam, could mean death. It’s a tense tale.” — Us Weekly
“A seductive meditation on greed, power and the tortuous journey even the well-heeled must endure for self-possession. Burton adroitly depicts a culture of contradiction: a love of affluence and indulgence chafing against the impulse for Godfearing abstinence.” — New York Times Book Review, The Shortlist
From the Back Cover
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 splendid new home is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, and leaves Nella alone with his sister, the fearsome Marin.
Nella's life unexpectedly changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish it, she engages the services of a miniaturist–an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie ways.
Johannes's gift helps Nella pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand–and fear–the escalating dangers around them. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation...or the architect of their destruction?
About the Author
Jessie Burton was born in London in 1982. She studied at Oxford University and the Central School of Speech and Drama. The Miniaturist is her first novel.
- Print length432 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherEcco
- Publication dateJune 2, 2015
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.97 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100062306847
- ISBN-13978-0062306845
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Product details
- Publisher : Ecco; Reprint edition (June 2, 2015)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 432 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062306847
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062306845
- Item Weight : 11.3 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.97 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #72,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #514 in Historical British & Irish Literature
- #5,368 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #7,260 in Suspense Thrillers
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author
Jessie Burton is the author of four novels: The Miniaturist, The Muse, The Confession, and The House of Fortune.
The Miniaturist and The Muse were Sunday Times no.1 bestsellers in hardback and paperback, and New York Times bestsellers. The Miniaturist was UK Christmas no.1, National Book Awards Book of the Year, and Waterstones Book of the Year 2014, and sold more than 1 million copies in its first year. In 2017 it was adapted as a two-part BBC miniseries starring Anya Taylor-Joy. The Confession was a Sunday Times bestseller. The House of Fortune was a Sunday Times no.1 bestseller in hardback, with the paperback to come in July 2023.
Her novels have been published in 40 languages.
Her first book for children, The Restless Girls, was published in 2018, followed by Medusa in 2021. Medusa is shortlisted for the 2023 Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing.
Visit her website at https://www.jessieburton.com, and follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jessieburton
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Set in the Golden Age of The Netherlands, in Amsterdam in 1868, The Miniaturist tells the story of young Nelle (Petronella) Oortman who arrives on the doorstep of her new husband's house and, as she crosses the threshold of this tidy, well-ordered home, steps into another world. Her husband, the wealthy, charming Johannes Brandt, lives in a place far removed from Nelle's sheltered and rather Godly life in the country with her mother and younger siblings. In Amsterdam, the heart of trade and merchant-living in Europe, it's guilders before God, and sweet Nelle finds the surface splendour and prim facades disguise deeper and curious as well as highly hypocritical undercurrents.
Swept into a life in which she feels she has no place, she is forced to deal with Johannes demanding sister, Marin, whose aloofness is countered only by her maid, Cornelia, who appears to Nelle to not understand the boundaries between employer and servant. A situation that's made more puzzling by the presence of the coffee-skinned Otto, whose kindness and humanity is, when he leaves the house, disregarded by locals as his exoticness takes over, earning cruel barbs and awful assumptions. Nelle is overwhelmed by all this and prays that love will smooth her path, especially when her husband appears to neglect her.
Then, one day, Johannes buys her a beautiful dolls'-house. It's a huge cabinet - a replica of their place – that he invites her to furnish. Reluctant at first, Nelle acquiesces and hires the services of a superb miniaturist. But when the pieces she commissions are not only exceptionally fulfilled, but rendered in exquisite and intimate detail, she wonders what is going on. They are so life-like, prophetic, full of significance... Alarmed, she eventually reads the pieces and the messages that accompany them as signs of a life she should either aspire to or as a warning of what's to come...
Part mystery, part lyrical portrayal of families and relationships and the complex webs we weave and in which we entrap ourselves and others, The Miniaturist is also an examination of social structures and the lengths people will go to in order to protect their place, their role, conceal their secrets, maintain what to some might be lies but to others are the veneers we must never allow to crack. Burton's understanding and portrayal of the repressed but seething society of Amsterdam of this time is stunning. Her use of the doll's house as an analogy for what goes on behind other closed doors, of how we can be fashioned in another's image, moulded to an ideal, is very clever. I remember seeing these dolls' houses at the Rikjs Museum when I lived in The Netherlands and thought them amazing. Their use here is unique and eerie. Unlike the life-like dolls made for Nelle and which she places inside her doll's house, the characters in Burton's real Dutch houses that abut each other, line the canals and share the repressive joys of community, come to life in ways that are surprising, distressing, utterly gripping and heart-wrenching.
The only way for a woman to survive in the world in 1686 Amsterdam was to try to marry well so that there was enough money for good housing, good food, decent clothes and as much warmth in the winter that could be mustered up. Petronella Oortman, an 18-year-old young women from a small town has already been married to the handsome and wealthy merchant trader Jonannes Brandt in a hurried and casual ceremony in her home town. Now she is at Johannes' home to move in and be his wife. Johannes turns out to be an inattentive husband who is always away on business and Nella is stuck in the house with his stern sister, Marin, and two servants. To keep Nella busy, Johannes buys her a cabinet that is a replica of their home. She can fill it with miniatures or whatever she wants to do with it. She finds a miniaturist who makes tiny figures of the family and some of their friends, but strangely they mimic things that happen.
The miniaturist is a curious character who I would have loved to meet. The book is titled after her, but we never get to formally meet her and never really understand why she stays secluded on the second floor of her house. There is a mystical element to her that I wish the author had explored. However, the historical background and descriptions of 17th century Amsterdam are fascinating. What society and the church expected of people tried to keep them on the straight and narrow, and fire and brimstone sermons went on every worship day to keep the fear of God and priest within the people.
I loved the scenes of people skating on the frozen canals in winter and of Nella's trips out either alone or accompanied by the female servant along Amsterdam's streets. Nella was very independent for her day. What she will have to contend with in the future is something that her independence will serve her well for.
I'm looking forward to another book from Jessie Burton.
Top reviews from other countries
A compelling and beautifully observed story with some wonderfully atmospheric descriptions of 17th century Holland, this debut novel from Jessie Burton doesn’t read like a first novel at all. All of the characters are interesting and well-portrayed (although I would have liked to have seen their emotions explored more fully) and much of the story was so exquisitely described that this novel, with its themes of gender, sexuality, race and religion, kept me involved from start to finish. I read this book for the first time a few years’ ago, but I wanted to reread it in order to remind myself of the story before starting the sequel (‘The House of Fortune’) and I’m pleased to say I enjoyed it just as much, if not more, than the first time around.
5 Stars.
17世紀のアムステルダムの住民(商人)の生活はどんなものか
かれらの生活感と宗教観などを考えながら、ミステリーをたのしむ。
職人ギルド、宗教裁判など当時最も先進的なオランダの息吹が楽しめる。