The Miniaturist: A Novel Kindle Edition

This was a hauntingly lovely, deeply sad book that remained with me long after I finished it.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.

This is an interesting piece of historical fiction. It is 1686 and Nella (short for Petronella), at 18, finds herself on the doorstep of her new husband, 39, who she hardly knows, but who is a wealthy merchant in a bigger city who is supposed to help her life become new and wonderful.However, of the many surprises Nella is confronted with when she arrives at her new home, one of the most confounding is how her new husband does not visit her bedroom and does not treat her as a husband typically treats his new wife. Instead, his gives her a replica of their home -- a "distraction" -- for Nella to furnish.Nella seeks the services of a miniaturist to assist her and requests a few intro pieces. In return, the miniaturist sends Nella the requested pieces, along with a few unrequested pieces that seem to be exact replicas of items in Nella's new home. Does this miniaturist know the family? Has he been in the house? How did he create such perfect replicas?Thus begins a subtle mystery as Nella both tries to stop the gifts and cannot wait for the next gift from the miniaturist, each new gift providing insight, prophesy, or explanation of happenings in Nella's increasingly complicated life.We also meet her husband Johannes' sister Marin, an unmarried woman living in the house who almost seems more master of the house than Johannes or Nella, the "manservant" Otto, who has been educated and is more free with his relationship than Nella has ever seen before, their maid Cornelia who is not only fresh and forthright but, again, is more forward than seems proper for a maid. Add to that their "old friends" the Meermans and mysterious Jack Philip who seems to be more than the miniaturist's delivery boy, and the story has a complete and robust cast of characters, which take us through a short amount of time.It was an enjoyable read. At times, it reads quickly and at others, Burton seems to relish the word as she slowly moves through the narrative. Overall, a satisfying read, filled with intrigue, tragedy, mystery, and love of many kinds.Definitely recommend.. maybe a nice winter read with a cozy lap blanket and a warm fire.FOUR of five stars.

In the autumn of 1686, eighteen-year-old Petronella (Nella) Oortman leaves her country home and arrives at the Amsterdam house of her new (and much older) husband, the wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt - a man she barely knows. At his house on the Golden Bend of the Herengracht Canal, Nella meets Johannes' unmarried sister, the domineering Marin, who lives with Johannes and runs his household and, up to a point, his life. Nella feels gauche and somewhat inadequate when faced with Marin's confidence and practicality, and when Johannes presents his young wife with the wedding gift of a cabinet-sized replica of her new home, Nella feels he is treating her as if she is a child. Realizing that her husband, who has not yet consummated their marriage, is trying to be kind, Nella contacts by letter a miniaturist, a maker of miniature furniture, and commissions some pieces for her cabinet house. However, when the pieces arrive, Nella is surprised by how true-to-life they are, and when further uncommissioned pieces arrive, including some dolls which are uncannily like the inhabitants of her household - even down to aspects about them that no one outside the family would be aware - Nella begins to feel uneasy and then rather frightened. And when she discovers something shocking about her husband, Nella realizes that her new life and the tentative relationship she had been gradually building with Johannes, is in danger of collapsing - and, even more worryingly, is the fact that Johannes is putting his reputation and even his own life at risk.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.

Never solved the main mystery of the miniaturist. Leaves a lot of plots unsolved, at the beginning is good but as you continue it only gets worst. Trying to hard on the motives behind the secrecy of each character.

Tragic story with lots of twists in the plot. Surely a page turner. It had me feeling that world is better for women now. The starting made me feel that it was Rebecca set in 17th century Amsterdam but it wasn't. Overall a nice story.

Fantastic story that will sweep you away back to Amsterdam's golden age. This page-turner is well worth the read!

This book was absolutely fascinating to me. It opens in 1686 in Amsterdam. Nella aka Petronella Oortman, an eighteen year old farmer's daughter has arrived in Amsterdam to begin living with her new husband, Johannes Brandt. She has spent little time with him in the past only long enough to play the lute for him and then a rushed marriage sanctioned by her family. Brandt is a wealthy merchant and world traveler dabbling in the buying and selling of exotic goods from various ports around the known world.When she learns that her husband is not at home to greet her and his sister, Marin, a maid, and her husband's man servant are the only occupants of the enormous house, she begins to wonder what she has fallen into. Cornelia the maid is as unfriendly as her new sister-in-law. And Otto, is a man like Nella has never seen before in her life, with his dark brown skin and soft wool hair. None of them makes her feel welcome but ensconce her in her own sumptuous bedroom that does not include anything of her new husbands. Only then does she realizes she won't be sharing a marital bedroom with Johannes.This book is well written and contains many secrets and mysteries that both the protagonist Nella and the reader strive to solve. One of the biggest mysteries involves the miniaturist whose tiny carvings begin to fill her dollhouse-like cabinet. The miniatures seem to have a life of their own and maybe trying to tell Nella something.I stayed up late to read this book and woke up early to finish it. Don't let the historical date scare you off. This is as modern a story as anything that happens today.