The Miniaturist

In 1686 in Amsterdam, 18-year-old Nella Oortman arrives at the grand house of her new husband, the wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. The marriage is more arrangement than love match, and Nella is intimidated by her new home and her sister in law Marin.  Johannes does not come to her at night, and his wedding gift is a cabinet house – an exquisitely diminutive replica of his own property – which he now invites Nella to fill with miniature furniture at his expense.

What follows for Nella is a series of puzzles. How does the miniaturist know so much about her and her household.  What family secrets exist.  Luckily, the heroine is not at all the timorous type she seemed at first to be, and she takes the ensuing revelations – they come thick and fast, in the manner of biblical thunderbolts – if not exactly on the chin, then with a great deal more aplomb than you might expect.

The plot takes us through household tensions, family intrigue and secrets.  I listened to this book in audio version.  Two things were distracting.  The first concerns
the narrator who was the author herself, Jessie Burton.  I actually found her voice rather irritating and tended to think that someone other than the author would have been better.  Some of my audio reads have featured well-established actors and these readings have always been easier to follow, especially when different voices are crafted for the different characters.  It seemed to me to be something of a conceit to read one's novel if one has not had a drama training of some kind.  The other distraction concerns the dialogue Burton has crafted.  I did not always find it convincing  - there were times when the central character spoke with a 21st century turn of phrase and voice, as if she might have been educated at a good English school. 

The Miniaturist is Burton's first novel and she has clearly done a lot of research.  But sometimes I found myself thinking that some of the action did not ring true.  Towards the end of the book Nella's behaviour, actions and her reformed attitude to her erring husband were not convincing.  For all that though this was a good story.