Author: Jessie
Burton
Genre: Historical
Fiction, Mystery, Adult Fiction
Pages: 424
Originally published in: 2014
“True love was a flower in the gut, its petals unfurling inside out. You
would risk all for love – blissful, never without its drops of dismay.”
It is mid-October, 1686, when
eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin her new life as
the wife of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. However, instead of an exciting
fresh start next to a loving husband, she is presented with a big, dark house
in the middle of the city – her husband absent, and his sister acting as the already
established lady of the house. As she gets as a wedding gift from Johannes a
cabinet-sized replica of their home, Nella begins feeling more and more as a
child and less as the woman, she was ready to become. Her only hope for a
change in her lonely days is to focus on decorating her new cabinet. So, she
gets in touch with a mysterious miniaturist, paying him to make her just a few
tiny figures. However, soon Nella realises she is going to get a lot more than
she originally bargained for, and as the miniatures keep coming, so do the
surprises from her new family.
The Miniaturist is a brilliant debut novel from Jessie Burton and sets the standards
really high for her upcoming work. Beautifully written and with an exquisite
attention to detail, this is a book that has the power to haunt you until you
get to its end. The characters are very well-written and excellently developed throughout the novel, and as the narrative
unravels, so do the character’s deep secrets.
As far as historical fictions go,
this is one of the better ones. With the ease of an experienced
novelist, Burton takes you from your modern daily life and quickly shoves you
in the middle of 17th century Amsterdam. Her descriptions are so
detailed, yet effortless, that you can easily keep up with the story without
feeling the burden of an old-fashioned or confusing language. She sets the mood
from the start, each description utterly understandable, making you feel as if
this old Amsterdam is part of your world, and you can almost smell the freshly
baked olie-koecken, almost feel the
chilliness of the cold Dutch wind.
What sets apart The Miniaturist from other books of the genre, are the rich
comparisons that definitely have the potential to turn into a trademark of
Burton’s style in the future. Here are just a few examples: “A few drops fall from the spout, spreading
in the cloth like Virgin Islands on a map.” “The waters are gold and crisped to
perfection and the rosewater mingles with the warming ginger.” “The sky is a
deep river of indigo, the stars pricked like lights in its flowing stream.”
There is some very traditional
feeling to the whole novel that derives from the approach taken with the writing.
Truth is, a lot of traditional symbolism can be found in The Miniaturist. For instance, the long-established opposition of
darkness and light in classical literature has found its rightful place on the
pages of this novel, too. When Nella and Cornelia go to the maid’s old
orphanage, its building is in a narrow, dark alley, away from the busy, lively
street immediately setting the tone of her sad, lonely childhood. This is then,
put in an opposition to the liveliness and noisiness of the streets of Amsterdam,
where “light” represents happiness and easy life: “the noise of the shoppers in the Kalverstraat is now muffed by the
tight walls of the passage,” “but the maid is already walking back up the
passage, towards life and light and noise.”
Further in the book, when Nella is
disappointed by Johannes’ lack of interest in her and his coldness, she longs
for the light outside: “Night has fallen
fully. She looks at the lights of the smaller boats, and feels completely
alone.” Here, the fall of the night, and with that of darkness, coincides with
the “night” in Nella’s own marriage. She is in one of the bigger, more
luxurious boats. However, the small light from those smaller boats speak of
liveliness, of warmth, and of love. None of which is present where Nella is,
resulting in a complete sense of loneliness.
An important theme to historical
fiction based at the same time period is usually sexual repression. Indeed, in The Miniaturist this is an issue that
has an impact on all its characters. From the very beginning of the book there
is some unmistakable, though indescribable as well, sexual tension. Ultimately,
unfulfilled desires reign over all characters. Even though that might not be
the main focus to the book, it is there through the whole novel, behind every little
accidental noise, or escaped gaze. In the end, it is definitely what has its
effects on the whole story.
“Madame says love is best a phantom than reality, better in the chase
than caught.”
The Miniaturist is about all the difficulties that come with life in a country as
religious as the Netherlands in the 17th century. About the lives of
the rich merchants, about selling sugar, and about the mysterious miniatures
that suspiciously resemble real people with the greatest of details. However,
apart from being a brilliant mystery, The
Miniaturist is also about love. Nella comes to Amsterdam ready to love her
husband and be loved in return. She often questions herself about the meaning
of being a woman, and how much of it is connected to being loved or inlove. With the progress of the story, it turns out
she was not the only character longing for love, but she is the safest one. For
the rest of them are quite ready to go great distances for love.
