The House of Fortune # The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

                                                

Hardback:  401 pages                                                                                                 
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Picador 2022
Source: Tywyn Public Library
First Sentence: At eighteen, Thea is too old to be celebrating birthdays. 
Review Quote: Clever and satisfying . . . Burton is an acute observer . . . A worthy sequel, mature and thoughtful ― Guardian

My Opinion: Having read and enjoyed 'The Miniaturist' back in 2016 I was keen to read this sequel.

'The House of Fortune' takes the reader back to Amsterdam some eighteen years later. It is 1705 and Thea Brandt turns eighteen. It is time for the family to find her husband , who will help save the family from financial ruin. However Thea is a headstrong young woman and determined to control her own destiny.

A character driven story, which showcases the difficulties women faced in this era, with the expectations forced upon them. If you liked 'The Miniaturist' I can recommend this sequel.  In my opinion although you can read it without reading the previous novel you will find it makes more sense if you have done so. 



Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

The House of Fortune is the sequel to Jessie Burton’s million copy bestselling 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 . . .

Previous Review:  The Miniaturist

Author Profile

                                                        © Vogue UK, Hugh Stewart

Jessie Burton is the author of four novels, The Miniaturist, The Muse, The Confession, and The House of Fortune. She was born in January 1982 in the United Kingdom.

The Miniaturist and The Muse were Sunday Times no.1 bestsellers in both hardback and paperback, New York Times bestsellers, and Radio 4's Book at Bedtime. The Miniaturist went on to sell over a million copies in its year of publication, was Christmas no.1 in the UK, National Book Awards Book of the Year, and Waterstones Book of the Year 2014.  In 2017 it was adapted as a two-part miniseries on BBC One, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Alex Hassell and Romola Garai, screened over Christmas, and now available on DVD and streaming services. The Confession was an instant Sunday Times bestseller, and Radio 4 Book at Bedtime​. The House of Fortune was a Sunday Times no.1 bestseller in hardback, and the paperback was released in July 2023.

Her novels have been published in 40 languages.

Jessie's first book for children, The Restless Girls, was published in September 2018, and Medusa, her second, in October 2021. Medusa was shortlisted for the 2023 Carnegie Medal for Children's Writing. ​Her story 'Daphne and the Doughnuts' appeared in The Book of Hopes, a collection of children's stories published in 2020, from which all profits go to the NHS. 

As a non-fiction writer, she has written essays and reviews for The New York Times, Harpers Bazaar UK, The Wall Street Journal, The Independent, Vogue, Elle, Red, Grazia, Lonely Planet Traveller and The Spectator. Harpers Bazaar US and Stylist have published her short stories.



Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Goodreads - Author Profile    Amazon - Jessie Burton Page    Jessie Burton - Official Website.   Instagram Profile

Picador - Author Profile.

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Paperback:  416 pages                                                                                                 
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: June 2nd 2015 by Ecco 
Source: Local Book Club Choice.
First Sentence: The funeral is supposed to be a quiet affair, for the deceased had no friends.
Favourite Quote: “Every woman is the architect of her own fortune.” 
Review Quote: 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)
Literary Awards: Specsavers National Book Award for Books Are My Bag New Writer of the Year (2014), Walter Scott Prize Nominee (2015), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction (2014), Waterstones Book of the Year (2014)
My Opinion: The atmosphere of 17C Amsterdam is vividly and evocatively described in this beautifully written debut novel.  The characters and plot are all very mysterious and it was this suspenseful narration that kept me reading, because at first it took me awhile to get into the story. I enjoyed much more than I expected to and would recommend to all fans of historical fiction.  Have already added her second novel The Muse  to my reading wishlist. Will also be looking forward to the BBC One adaptation of Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist in three parts which will be aired in 2017. 




Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

Set in seventeenth century Amsterdam—a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion—a masterful debut steeped in atmosphere and shimmering with mystery, in the tradition of Emma Donoghue, Sarah Waters, and Sarah Dunant.

“There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed . . .”

On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office—leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.

But Nella’s world changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish her gift, Nella engages the services of a miniaturist—an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways . . .

Johannes’ gift helps Nella to pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand—and fear—the escalating dangers that await them all. In this repressively pious society where gold is worshipped second only to God, to be different is a threat to the moral fabric of society, and not even a man as rich as Johannes is safe. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction?

Enchanting, beautiful, and exquisitely suspenseful, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.


Author Profile

Jessie Burton was born in 1982 and lives in London. She studied at Oxford University and the Central School of Speech and Drama, where she appeared in productions of The House of Bernarda Alba, Othello, Play and Macbeth. In April 2013 her first novel, The Miniaturist, was sold at an 11-publisher auction at the London Book Fair, and went on to sell in 29 other countries around the world. It was published by Picador in the UK and Holland in July 2014, and the USA in August 2014, with other translations to follow. Radio 4 commissioned it as their Book at Bedtime in July 2014. Her second novel The Muse was published earlier this year.



Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Goodreads - Author Profile    Amazon - Jessie Burton Page    Jessie Burton - Official Website

Picador - Author Profile.