The Miniaturist is the highly popular new novel by Jesse Burton. Set in Amsterdam in 1686, the story is based on the actual miniature cabinet house made for Petronella Oortman, on view today in The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. This is the one historical truth in the novel that Burton imagines her story around.
It is a fascinating portrait of 17th century Amsterdam at the height of the Dutch East India Company. There are many secrets being kept in the house Petronella
moves into, where her new husband and his sister live. She is mostly
alone except for the servants and her cabinet house. I was drawn into the tale as soon as the tiny furniture and cryptic notes started appearing, and was most fascinated to find out the miniaturist was a woman.
However, the miniaturist eludes Nella and the reader throughout the book, and although this added mystery to the story for a while, I found it frustrating by the end. An original novel that transported me to old Amsterdam, however, mildly disappointing by the end.
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