The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

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 It's exquisite like fine china. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton is also a well patterned garden maze. A reader might find themselves lost in streets because there are many lives to live here. More than one life story lives in each character. It is uncomfortable to read about one household's days of chaos.

A large cabinet house bought by Johannes, the husband, for his bride, Petronella, will become more than an upright toy. For a while, it is a child bride's safe haven. The household is full of puzzles and whispers. So are the streets of Amsterdam. In this novel, words and deeds are like "water." What is spoken or done inside flows outside and is judged.

Very interesting is the seemingly magical appearance and disappearance of the miniaturist. A girl or woman who in some way gains the hearts of the women in the city. She is like an invisible fortune teller. She can foretell the death of a much loved family pet. Was the miniaturist real or just my imagination? Her comings and goings left me perplexed. One thing real for sure is the stiff religious garments worn by the neighbors and Pastor Pellicorne. Without rose colored glasses one can see that it comes down to who owns the worse bag of sins It's The Scarlet Letter of our time.

I am left wanting to know more about Amsterdam: It's history. It's people. Perhaps, this is the skill of a good author. She or he leaves us wondering where does truth begin and where does it end. Is there a need to know the truth of a place? Sometimes.

The novel begins in the 1600's. The characters seem real. Their emotional pain overpowering. With all of the anxiety there is time to breathe for a moment. This is when there is a quiet wish made that doll houses were real because toys never judge. Toys only give pleasure. jessieburton.co.uk/index.

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