English
author Jessie Burton’s first novel, ‘The Miniaturist’ is a very fine debut.
There has been much buzz about its release this year, and with endorsements by
Hannah Kent and S J Watson on the cover, expectation was high. The novel, set
in 1686 in Amsterdam, and following the early days of Nella Oortman’s marriage into
the wealthy trading family of the Brandts, very much reminded me of Tracy
Chevalier’s novels. While not quite as deft as Chevalier’s style, Burton comes
close nonetheless, and she has spun an interesting modern tale whilst remaining
true to the cultural conventions of the time in which she is writing. Nella is
neither a heroic feminist crusader, nor a naive country bumpkin whose eyes are
opened by the city: she is rather a thoughtful and calm protagonist, quietly
observing the complex relations of the household she has married into, and
eventually taking control as events turn for the worse in the novel’s climax.
Burton allows contemporary issues to enhance the themes in her novel by
portraying Nella’s husband, Johannes Brandt, to be a man of the world: he
allows his household certain liberties, his adored black manservant Otto comes
and goes as he pleases, his maid Cornelia is straight-talking and frank and his
tall and clever unmarried sister Marin advises him in trade. Nella is intrigued
by the Brandts and their servants rather than shocked, but not so the people of
Amsterdam as described when Otto leads the house through the city to church:
‘Though
people continue to goggle, no-one else offers commentary. Nella notices how
they look at Marin too. Unusually tall for a woman, with her long neck and head
held high, Marin is like a figurehead on the bow of a ship, leaving waves of
turning faces in her wake’.
Nella
and Johannes’ relationship takes a fairly well trodden narrative path, but
Burton doesn’t sensationalise the exploration of their relationship and the
narrative arc avoids cliché. What sets this novel apart is the element of
mystery that gives the novel its title. Johannes gives his new bride the gift
of a cabinet sized dolls house, an identical model of their own home but empty
for Nella to fill and entertain herself during his absences. Nella is nonplussed
but in a fit of spite towards her frugal and waspish sister in law, Nella
orders a ‘miniaturist’ advertised in the local trading papers to make her some
furniture for the house. What transpires is a number of packages arriving with
exact models of people and objects in the house, of which the miniaturist
should have no knowledge. Notes with cryptic messages are wrapped around the
fine little pieces and Nella embarks upon a cat and mouse chase trying to pin
down this enigmatic and all knowing craftsperson:
‘Someone
has peered into Nella’s life and thrown her off centre. If these items aren’t
sent in error, then the cradle is a mock to her unvisited marriage bed and what’s
beginning to feel as though it’s an eternal virginity. What sort of person
would dare such impertinence? The dogs, so particular; the chairs, so exact –
the cradle, so suggestive – it’s like the miniaturist has a perfect, private
view’.
Burton’s
style is straightforward but confident. Her characters are sympathetically
drawn, and the dialogue is well executed in that Burton doesn’t embellish or
over-formalise the language. The plot may have been spun out a little too long
but the mystery of the miniaturist’s identity is interesting enough to compel
the reader forward. Burton no doubt will have an audience eagerly waiting for a
second showing after this assured start.
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