THE MINIATURIST

A sensuous, gripping historical novel by debut writer.

THE MINIATURIST tells the story of a wealthy, dysfunctional family living in Amsterdam in 1686 during the decline of the Dutch Golden Age. When the merchant Johannes Brandt commissions a miniature version of his wife's new marital home to be built, its construction under the influence of the elusive miniaturist unleashes long-suppressed secrets, lost love, old wounds and hidden hopes. Each of the inhabitants are forced to look into their souls and one another's hearts and decide whether they have the strength to carry on in a society which might end up condemning them all. Set against the backdrop of the Calvinist church, the gossip of guilds and the overblown trading of the Dutch East India Company, it explores the tyranny and safety of home and the need for secrets and imagination, all linked by a mysterious miniaturist existing on the edge of their lives. As the outside world encroaches further on their private lives, is the miniaturist the elusive key to their salvation? Or is she the architect of their downfalls?

In the tradition of Sarah Dunant, Tracy Chevalier and Emma Donohue yet with a highly original edge, this is an evocative, thought-provoking novel.

JESSIE BURTON was born in south London in 1982. She studied at Oxford University and The Central School of Speech and Drama. She has appeared in several productions at the National, Bristol Old Vic, Salisbury Playhouse and the Donmar among others, interspersing these with PA roles in the City. In 2011, she was selected out of 150 submissions for the inaugural Curtis Brown Creative Writing course. She lives with her partner, Pip Carter, in East Dulwich. THE MINIATURIST is her first novel.