Now a television miniseries, as seen on Masterpiece on PBS
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.
