Book 1: The Miniaturist

"There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed..."

My rating: ★★★

I saw the trailer for the BBC miniseries adaptation of this book, and it reminded me that it has been sat on a bookshelf in my dining room for a while now. I wanted to read it, and it was one of those lovely painted-edge books all in blue, so honestly I was so happy to pick this book up.

If you haven't already read 'The Miniaturist', heres my short synopsis: 

In seventeenth century Amsterdam, an eighteen year old girl named Nella Oortman is married to a merchant trader, Johannes Brandt. She moves into his magnificent, if a little disheartening and cold, home with her new husband and his (awful) sister, Marin. As a wedding gift, Johannes gives Nella a miniature cabinet version of their house, which helps her come to terms with and reveal the secrets of her new home, thanks mostly to the mysterious miniaturist who creates the tiny figments that open this new world to the protagonist.

If you'd rather not read any spoilers for this book, stop reading here!

While I find empathising with literary characters to be relatively easy in most cases, some of the characters in this book caused me to struggle. 

Nella Oortman was the character I empathised the most with, which I know is what is expected of the reader, but a lot of her decisions made me think twice about being on her side throughout the story.  Nella is introduced as being a country girl who has helped raise her siblings, is wise beyond her years and is very self assured. However, in contrast to this introduction, she fawns over her new husband and has a huge amount of respect and awe for a man that she has only known for a very short amount of time. As soon as Nella enters her husbands house, she begins to second guess her wisdom, and give into doubt. Throughout the rest of the book she is timid and quiet, and show to be very innocent to the ways of the city. I fell out of love with this character as the book went on. I waited and willed her to do something, to take her fate into her own hands, and by the time that she finally did, I was ready to put the book down. 

The subplot of Johannes' hidden sexuality and the trouble that arises because of it kept me going with this book. From the beginning of the book, Jessie Burton keeps us wondering why this man, despite being twenty years older than Nella, has married this quiet country girl, and yet keeps her at such a distance. The reveal that his marriage was a safety net, designed to further hide his sexuality and bring less suspicion upon himself, actually caught me by surprise. I went into this book knowing nothing about it, and came out devastated for Johannes. I honestly never expected this book to move me so much with the relationship between Nella and Johannes. I am usually not invested in romance in books, but the way that this issue was dealt with - and in the end, not really dealt with at all - really got to me. By the time that Johannes made his escape, was captured, and finally drowned, I was a mess. 

I don't have a lot to say about Marin. I disliked her for Nella's sake, and disliked her more and more as the book continued. Her hypocritical ways, preaching about piety and saving the soul, but wearing velvet under her dresses, and sneaking sweets at night were enough to turn me off of this character enough that in the end, I really had no sympathy left for her.

Personally, I loved this book. I empathised with Nella and Johannes, and was absorbed in the story of the mysterious miniaturist and the plot of sugar, sexuality and secrets.

If you haven't read the book, and you're still here reading this blog, you should go and read the book. The writing style draws you in in such a gorgeous way, and if you enjoy a good period drama, then this is for you. 

I hope this wasn't too much of a rambling review! 

Happy reading~

~iccarus~