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![The Miniaturist: A Novel by [Jessie Burton]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51kDEfuF-xL._SY346_.jpg)
The Miniaturist: A Novel Kindle Edition
Jessie Burton (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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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.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherEcco
- Publication date26 August 2014
- File size752 KB
Product description
Book Description
Review
'A remarkable debut – complex, involving and deeply atmospheric.' -- Deborah Moggach
'The next big thing ... Incredibly well-written, beautifully plotted ... If you tore through Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, you'll love it.' -- Evening Standard
'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 ... Burton writes great complex female characters.' -- The Observer
'Utterly transporting, The Miniaturist is 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, while a riptide of a plot takes hold with an unrelenting grip of suspense. My first instinct on finishing this book was to immediately read it again.' -- Hannah Kent --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
From the Inside Flap
There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed . . .
On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but instead she is met by his sharp-tongued sister, Marin. Only later does Johannes appear and present her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in unexpected ways . . .
Nella is at first mystified by the closed world of the Brandt household, but as she uncovers its secrets she realizes the escalating dangers that await them all. Does the miniaturist hold their fate in her hands? And will she be the key to their salvation or the architect of their downfall?
Beautiful, intoxicating and filled with heart-pounding suspense, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.
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 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 life 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'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 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, beautifully written, and exquisitely suspenseful, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.From the Publisher
Review
From the Author
Review
'A remarkable debut – complex, involving and deeply atmospheric.' (Deborah Moggach)
'The next big thing ... Incredibly well-written, beautifully plotted ... If you tore through Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, you'll love it.' (Evening Standard)
'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 ... Burton writes great complex female characters.' (The Observer)
'Utterly transporting, The Miniaturist is 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, while a riptide of a plot takes hold with an unrelenting grip of suspense. My first instinct on finishing this book was to immediately read it again.' (Hannah Kent) --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Review
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 . . . Burton writes great complex female characters ― Observer
A terrific novel: compelling cast, gripping plot, writing to savour
A remarkable debut - complex, involving and deeply atmospheric
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton is set in 17th century Amsterdam where a trader presents his new wife Nella with a miniature replica of their home. Its tiny occupants mirror their real-life counterparts and show Nella what grave dangers lie in wait. ― Daily Express
A delight on every page, The Miniaturist completely immerses the reader in sumptuous but strict seventeenth-century Amsterdam. Like the intricately crafted doll's house at the centre of the novel, there is a surprise behind each closed door and curtain - hidden worlds of deceit and seduction, guilds and guilders, candied walnuts and sugar loaves. Burton's novel is lovingly done, and exquisite to read
Utterly beguiling and impeccably written. I am missing the characters already
Utterly transporting, The Miniaturist is 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, while a riptide of a plot takes hold with an unrelenting grip of suspense. My first instinct on finishing this book was to immediately read it again --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B00H1UK3UO
- Publisher : Ecco; Illustrated edition (26 August 2014)
- Language : English
- File size : 752 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 419 pages
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Jessie Burton is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling novels The Miniaturist, The Muse, and The Confession, and of the children's book The Restless Girls. Her novels have been translated into 38 languages, and she is a regular essay writer for newspapers and magazines.
The Miniaturist was a Sunday Times number 1 bestseller in both hardback and paperback, and a New York Times bestseller. It sold over a million copies in its first year of publication, and was awarded the Waterstones Book of the Year, and Book of the Year at the National Book Awards. In 2017 it was adapted into a major TV series for BBC One.
The Muse was a Sunday Times number 1 bestseller in both hardback and paperback, and has sold more than 500,000 copies.
The Confession is Jessie's third novel, and became an immediate Sunday Times bestseller.
Visit her website at https://www.jessieburton.com, and follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jessieburton
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Top reviews from Australia
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The plot is intriguing, with many twists, turns and nuances. It's not a romance but how a girl becomes a strong woman through the crucible of fire.
At times I cried, times I threw my hands up in horror. To say its haunting is an understatement. Somehow I kept thinking about Tale of Two Cities - its in that class of fiction; or Hardy who was master of setting his scenes with unforgettable prose .
The scenes are richly drawn, the hidden secrets that drive the book are unexpected, the characters full and complex, and sometime not so nice - but always human.
The city that swirled around the girl is just amazing, I smelt it, felt the ground beneath my feet and cried three times at the events. I am not a weepy person and it takes something very powerful to make me cry. I think the author drew me into the shoes of her central character.
It is for me a book I couldn't put down. I read it in one sitting all evening, through the dark nightinand finished it around midday.
I see some comment that they didn't like The Miniaturist, that it was confusing and even boring. If you are reader of light romance then this is not what you are seeking. But if you are an educated reader this book will fulfil everything you want.
I bow to Jessie Burton! This book will become a classic. If this is the only book you ever buy on Kindle - then buy it.
Occasionally in our lives we come across literature that influences us, and is with us forever. For me Eve Langley's Pea Pickers captured me as a teen, trapped inside a wet tent, rain pouring down, in an obscure outback town as we travelled Australia. That was long ago but I know The Miniaturist will stay in my mind forever.
Just an amazing book!
Even though normally I prefer realist plots the hints of magic and secret controls were resolved by allusions to human perceptions and vulnerability to suggestion in times of ignorance, fear and uncertainty.
The story of a young relatively ignorant young woman, newly married, arriving at the home of her husband, as she faces confusing, frustrating and threatening events had me concerned, hopeful, anxious, fearful and proud. Her strength and character in response to set-back is as relevant now as it apparently was in the 17th century.
It was well written and the story is captivating, certainly different from anything I imagined. I recommend this book and would love to read more from this author.
I highly recommend it!
Top reviews from other countries


Burton is very good at bringing into the centre ground the importance of sugar. People's prosperity depends on it, yet it symbolises the sickly indulgence of a city saturated in its own opulence against a leering backdrop of Protestant austerity. Amsterdam becomes a terrible victim of its own commercial success. Riddled with hypocrisy, the city drinks from its own poisoned chalice with guilds, merchants and magistrates all vying for position as Nella sets about discovering her true woman's self beyond the cabinet that her husband brings her as compensation for an unconsummated marriage. The Miniaturist, in turning her into one of the puppets, in the end allows her to see into the compartments of her own life, so that she becomes the most powerful magistrate of them all in command of the thing that really matters, her own life as a woman. This is a brilliant debut novel, but the men float too freely, never properly pinned down to those vital dynamic encounters with the crises of their own lives, eluding and escaping instead of engaging with them. Two mottos, the one stating that 'Everything Man Sees He Takes For A Toy. Thus He Is Forever A Boy' and the other that 'Every Woman Is The Architect Of Her Own Fortune' together tend to nullify each other and prevent the evolution of the male characters. Fight to emerge, but relish the ending. It's beautifully done.


I became immersed in the characters and quite attached to some of them.
The cruelty and brutality of the protestant religious leaders of the Dutch Republic is appalling. They flex their man-made power in the name of God and they wallow in the satisfaction that the get from their unchallengeable authority. Even the wealth of the merchants is trumped by the pastors.
I loved the mystery that surrounded the wonderful craftmanship of the miniaturist who supplies tiny replicas of people and objects which predict actual events. She is seldom seen and is a prophet of reality. That is rather scary at times.
The story is gripping. This book kept me awake until well after one in the morning on several occasions.
For me, because of the background, the scene-setting, the religious undertones, the character-building and the starkness of society, The Miniaturist struck echoes of Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. I mean that as a huge complement to the writing of Jessie Burton.
For a while, I wavered between awarding four stars or five stars because I became irritated by the number of missing inverted commas and apostrophes. However, it would have been very unfair to award less than five stars to a book that gripped me from beginning to end and stirred my emotions so much that I wept many tears for the tragedy.
You must read this book.

This book draws you in from the first page. Nothing and no one is as they seem on first appearance and every character has secrets and mysteries to share. This might be set in the 1600s but the themes are no different to today, greed, love, lust and hypocrlsy to name a few.