I’ve been lacking bed time reading since coming to uni. I had lost the routine of going to bed with a hot chocolate and reading a book before going to sleep. Since coming back to uni in January I’ve strived to fix that (a struggle I’m sure many uni students will understand when there are so many socials). The Miniaturist has been an excellent read and has fulfilled my bed time reading needs.
It is a 500 page (ish) novel written by Jessie Burton in 2014 set in Amsterdam 1686-87. Nella, a wife of an arranged marriage moves to Amsterdam to be with her husband Johnna, his sister, and their maid, and slave. While there she seeks his acknowledgment and acceptance and his physical touch; instead she realises the household is full of secrets that she desires to uncover. In the house Nella’s character is portrayed as lonely and the only comfort she has seems to be in the doll house her husband gave to her as a wedding gift and the Miniaturist. This is whom she writes to asking for ornaments for the doll house, except she gets sent more than she asks for. Nella later finds that these dolls act as an eerie warning, they reveal secrets and events before Nella even knows about them.
I really enjoyed reading this book, it was gripping almost in the same way a crime novel is in the hints and gradual revelation of secrets. It only took me a few days to finish it. It was also in the Waterstones book club list a few years back (when I bought the book, I just never got around to reading it until now).
Since reading the book I’ve done a little research into the Burtons influences and the context around the book (yes I enjoy doing this- I am a literature student after all). In an interview between Jessie Burton and Richard Lee she said;
"My historical research was deep and I always went back to it whenever I was stuck. A 1671 recipe book, a Burgomaster’s portrait, a poem etched in a Dutchman’s prayerbook, how cold the temperature is in the Amsterdam Old Church at a certain time of day – and of course Petronella’s doll house [...]Some things were there from the beginning, like the opening for example – but other scenes and characters were sculpted over and over again, and there were several judicious carvings. It was like a game of dominoes – I moved one thing, it all fell over and had to be rearranged."
(You can find the full interview here: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/richard-lee-talks-to-jessie-burton-star-debut-author-at-the-london-book-fair/)
I’m now reading the Handmaids tale which I’m already in love with so I’m sure it won’t be long until there is a review of that on the blog.
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