The Miniaturist

The kind of book that reminds you why you fell in love with reading A fabulously gripping read that will appeal to fans of Girl With a Pearl Earring and The Goldfinch, but Burton is a genuinely new voice with her visceral take on sex, race and class . . . Burton writes great complex female characters * Observer * A terrific novel: compelling cast, gripping plot, writing to savour A remarkable debut - complex, involving and deeply atmospheric The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton is set in 17th century Amsterdam where a trader presents his new wife Nella with a miniature replica of their home. Its tiny occupants mirror their real-life counterparts and show Nella what grave dangers lie in wait. * Daily Express * A delight on every page, The Miniaturist completely immerses the reader in sumptuous but strict seventeenth-century Amsterdam. Like the intricately crafted doll's house at the centre of the novel, there is a surprise behind each closed door and curtain - hidden worlds of deceit and seduction, guilds and guilders, candied walnuts and sugar loaves. Burton's novel is lovingly done, and exquisite to read Utterly beguiling and impeccably written. I am missing the characters already Utterly transporting, The Miniaturist is one of those rare debut novels that excels in every regard. The past is brought to life in potent, sensory detail: one feels steeped in it. Burton's prose beguiles the reader, while a riptide of a plot takes hold with an unrelenting grip of suspense. My first instinct on finishing this book was to immediately read it again

Jessie Burton was born in 1982. She studied at Oxford University and the Central School of Speech and Drama, and has worked as an actress and a PA in the City. She now lives in south-east London, not far from where she grew up.