The Miniaturist
A Richard and Judy Book Club Pick and Beautifully Atmospheric Historical Novel
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4,2 • 5 notes
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- 3,99 €
Description de l’éditeur
The phenomenal number one bestseller and a major BBC TV series.
A Richard and Judy Book Club Pick.
Winner of the Specsavers National Book Award and Waterstones Book of the Year.
Beautiful, intoxicating and filled with heart-pounding suspense, Jessie Burton's historical novel set in Amsterdam, The Miniaturist, is a story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution.
On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but instead she is met by his sharp-tongued sister, Marin. Only later does Johannes appear and present her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in unexpected ways . . .
Nella is at first mystified by the closed world of the Brandt household, but as she uncovers its secrets she realizes the escalating dangers that await them all. Does the miniaturist hold their fate in her hands? And will she be the key to their salvation or the architect of their downfall?
'My first instinct on finishing this book was to immediately read it again' – Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Late 17th-century Amsterdam is the sumptuous backdrop for this debut novel about a young Dutch girl from the village of Assendelft, Nella Oortman, who is chosen to be the bride of Johannes Brandt, a wealthy merchant with a shocking secret. Not long after Nella's arrival in the city, her enigmatic husband presents her with a beautifully wrought cabinet, an exact replica of the house in which they live with Brandt's sister, Marin, and their loyal servants. Nella engages a miniaturist to fill it and begins to encounter mysteries no one is willing to explain, secrets in which everyone in the household is implicated. The elusive miniaturist, too, seems to know more than Nella, as reflected in the tiny dolls and furniture he creates for the cabinet. The artisan may even be able to predict the future: he sends Nella portentous objects she has not commissioned, such as a cradle and a perfect replica of Brandt's beloved dog stained with blood. As in all good historical novels, the setting is a major character; in this case the city of Amsterdam, with its waterways and warehouses, confectioners' shops, and kitchens, teems with period detail. Myriad plot twists involve Brandt's commercial activities, especially the stores of precious sugar cones from Surinam, and the tragic, fatal consequences of illicit love affairs. Strangely enough, however, the central mystery, the miniaturist's uncanny knowledge of the future, is never solved, and the reader is left unsatisfied.
Avis d’utilisateurs
One of my favourite books ..
I have just read this a second time and enjoyed the language and way the story unfolds, and all the small details. Essentially its about feminist issues, sexual mores and laws in 17th Century Amsterdam, and finally, the only way a woman could gain complete independence.