Title: The Miniaturist (Picador)
Author: Jessie Burton
Tags: #rijksmuseum, #amsterdam, #thegoldfinch
Discovered: The Book House, Thame (http://www.thebookhousethame.co.uk)
Where read: (In part) in Peyton and Byrne St Pancras (peytonandbyrne.co.uk)
Why read now?: A compelling page turner set in the perpetually chilly Autumn world of 17th Century Amsterdam.
The Word's Shortlist view:
In this debut novel Jessie Burton brilliantly transports the reader to 17th Century Amsterdam through the eyes of Petronella Oortman an 18 year old girl sent to be the bride of a wealthy merchant.
Like Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Goldfinch (and indeed The Da Vinci Code) the novel takes its lead from a work of art, in this case the 'Doll's House of Petronella Oortman' in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. In the novel Nella is presented with the dolls house as a wedding gift from her new, but distant, husband Johannes.
The dolls house itself becomes the theatre in which Nella's life, along with the lives of the family around her, is played out in eerie prophecy.
The drama is fast paced and weaves together domestic conflict with social and political intrigue brilliantly illustrated by well developed characters, particularly Agnes and Marin. A glossary in the appendix is useful for getting to grips with some of the terms Burton uses to authentically bring scenes to life.
Whilst some of the plot points are literary staples; family secrets, paternity intrigue and repressive religious forces, there is plenty of uniqueness here. The real star of the piece is Amsterdam itself, the damp and misty canal-side world in which wealth and poverty co-exits with the exotic and the parochial. Having said that, there is another novel to be written about Johannes Brandt's trade journeys to the East Indies. Over to you Ms Burton
A compelling page turner.
Read more about the actual doll's house in the Rijksmuseum here:
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/BK-NM-1010
Discover more fiction inspired by works of art here:
http://blog.ted.com/2012/07/25/10-books-inspired-by-paintings/
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