The House of Fortune
The Sunday Times No.1 Bestseller
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4.0 • 27 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
The House of Fortune is the sequel to Jessie Burton’s million-copy bestseller The Miniaturist. Set in the golden city of Amsterdam in 1705, it is a story of fate and ambition, secrets and dreams, and one young woman’s determination to rule her own destiny.
Thea Brandt is turning eighteen, and is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms. At the theatre, Walter, the love of her life, awaits her, but at home in the house on the Herengracht, winter has set in – her father Otto and Aunt Nella argue endlessly, and the Brandt family are selling their furniture in order to eat. On Thea’s birthday, also the day that her mother Marin died, the secrets from the past begin to overwhelm the present.
Nella is desperate to save the family and maintain appearances, to find Thea a husband who will guarantee her future, and when they receive an invitation to Amsterdam’s most exclusive ball, she is overjoyed – perhaps this will set their fortunes straight. And indeed, the ball does set things spinning: new figures enter their life, promising new futures. But their fates are still unclear, and when Nella feels a strange prickling sensation on the back of her neck, she wonders if the miniaturist has returned for her . . .
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Fans of Jessie Burton’s 2014 novel, The Miniaturist, will be delighted with this shimmering follow-up, The House of Fortune. It is 1705 and eighteen years have elapsed since we last saw the Brandt family in Amsterdam. Their guilders are dwindling and world-weary Nella is growing increasingly concerned for her niece Thea’s financial security. The mood in the grand, empty house is heavy with secrets old and new, and there are potential threats from the world beyond the Herengracht. Amid this darkness, Thea seeks pleasure and finds it in rousing playhouse performances, an illicit affair and hidden treasures. The narrative perspective swaps between headstrong Thea and determined Nella, creating moments of thoughtful internal reckoning and thrilling revelation. The world Burton has expertly conjured centres around wealth, class and concealment—fertile ground for a deliciously suspenseful plot. This is a sequel sure to be as equally well loved as its precursor.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Burton returns with a captivating standalone companion to 2014's The Miniaturist. In 1705 Amsterdam, 18-year-old Thea Brandt lives in a cold mansion with her father, Otto, a Black man who was formerly enslaved; her aunt Nella; and her elderly nursemaid and cook Cornelia. The family can barely afford the house, which Otto inherited, leading to Nella intensifying her efforts to find a wealthy husband for Thea, whose mother was white, and Otto thinking about partnering with a botanist to cultivate pineapples in Holland. Thea finds refuge at a nearby theater with her friend Rebecca, a fierce and talented leading lady; and Walter, the chief set-painter and Thea's secret lover. However, after Walter breaks her heart, Thea resigns herself to marrying a wealthy lawyer from a prominent family. Throughout, the mysterious "miniaturist" of the previous book surreptitiously delivers warnings in the form of detailed figurines on Thea's doorstep, each with its own eerie significance and seeming supernatural power, just as she had done years ago with Nella. While the ending feels a little abrupt, the vibrant period detail, the characters' vibrant inner lives, and Thea's fulfilling journey to maturity make for a winning combination. Readers will relish the return of Nella and her world.
