While reading, I wondered if there was a supernatural element at play even though that was the easy/cheap answer. That’s why she’s invisible and why she sends notes to Nella, but it doesn’t explain the quality of her work. The titular miniaturist is a woman even though there are strict rules about women having their own trade at this time. This next part is a spoiler-or would be, if anything came of it: Nella has a habit of figuring things out a step behind the reader and even a step behind the miniaturist, whose dolls are almost prophetic. How is a reader supposed to believe Johannes ever became a successful trader when his completely inexperienced wife sells half of his immovable sugar in a single day? Maybe she’s brilliant, but this is the same woman who plans to pass an “illegitimate” child as her own after only being married a few months… how will that prevent gossip? Characters are either smart or short-sighted depending on which trait leads to more drama. Unfortunately, one of her biggest decisions comes at the cost of other characters. Nella initially feels out of her depth as a wife and is passive for most of the novel before taking on a little agency. At the same time, Johannes’s trade business is stumbling, in part because he can’t/won’t move a large order of sugar. When they arrive, they’re disturbingly accurate and accompanied by little notes. Nella has little to do until she receives a model house as a wedding gift and begins ordering miniatures to fill it.

Marin, her sister-in-law, is obviously hiding something and is cold to her. The shortest possible summary of The Miniaturist is that 18-year-old Nella is sent to Amsterdam to marry Johannes, 39, in 1686. Every now and then a show works as a good editor. As much as I disliked it, I’m curious about the new TV miniseries because I’ve heard it addresses some of these issues. This is primarily a list of quibbles about The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton.

The miniaturist book