The House of Fortune by Jessie Burton

Synopsis
In the golden city of Amsterdam, in 1705, Thea Brandt is turning eighteen, and she is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms. At the city’s theatre, Walter, the love of her life, awaits her, but at home in the house on the Herengracht, all is not well – 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 remembers the miniaturist who entered her life and toyed with her fortunes eighteen years ago. Perhaps, now, she has returned for her . . .

Review

I’m always excited when Jessie Burton releases a new book, but the release of The House of Fortune is super exciting as it is the sequel to her debut book The Miniaturist, one of my favourite books. The House of Fortune is set eighteen years after the The Miniaturist , after the deaths of Johannas and Marin, with Nella, Otto and Cornelia still living in the Brandt family home on the wealthy part of the Herengracht Canal. Thea, Marin’s daughter is turning eighteen, an adult now and planning a future with her secret lover Walter. However, Nella has other ideas as the family have fallen from grace and need a good marriage for Thea to save the family and their home. But as Thea questions her past, and small miniatures are left, Nella wonders that the Miniaturist is back, and toying with the family again. As secrets and lies are revealed, Nella realsises that she has to go back to her past to secure the families future.

It can be quite daunting picking up a sequel to one of your favourite books, you have expectations and worry they may not be met. Jessie Burton, however has written the perfect sequel, and from the. first page I was back in eighteenth century Amsterdam with old friends. Over the eighteen years the Brandt House has suffered due to the events at the end of The Miniaturist, leaving Nella, Otto and Cornelia living in more impoverished circumstances, slowly selling off items of values just so they can keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Nella has never remarried, devoting herself to motherless Thea, that often sees her clashing with Thea’s father Otto, about their future. She, like Otto, doesn’t like talking about the past, her own or Otto and Marin’s, keeping Thea in the dark about her mother. Nella is determined to save the family and the house, but Otto has other ideas, after losing his job he considers selling the house and starting a pineapple business. As for Thea, she is intelligent and curious about her mother who no one talks about. Like most eighteen year olds she has a rebellious streak and is idealistic, innocent from the realties of life, instead preferring the plays at the theatre. Thea has to deal with being motherless, and being different from the other girls, with her tight spiral curls and darker skin, and being different comes with it’s problems, remarks from other girls, and stares when out and about. Thea was my favourite character, I liked her ideals and how she stood by them, she had a confidence about her like her mother, and was the glue that stuck the family together.

I am a huge fan of Jessie Burton and have read all of her books. Her writing is beautiful, it draws me into the world of her characters, their lives, and the period and place of the setting. I really felt the atmosphere and culture of early eighteenth century Amsterdam, a cosmopolitan society of immigrants from the ships that sailed into the port, the exotic food, the markets and beautiful houses. It was intersting to see that there was still racism at this time considering the many naionalities living there, maybe it was worse as Thea came from a good family. I loved the descriptions of the beautiful interiors of the houses of the wealthy, and of the theatre, the oppulance and beauty shone through, as did the natural beauty of the countryside outside Amsterdam. Of course underpinning this story is the idea that the Miniaturist is back in Amsterdam, using her special brand of magic to play with the lives of Nella and her family again, and creating an undercurrent of suspense to the story.

The House of Fortune is a stunning sequel to The Miniaturist, it felt like I had never been away from Amsterdam and in the lives of Nella and her family. The characters were beautifully drawn, realistic and I felt like I was visiting old friends, and some new. There is no doubt that Jessie Burton is a masterful storyteller, drawing the reader into eighteenth century Amsterdam and into the lives of Nella, Thea, Otto and Cornelia. This is a book of secrets and lies, fate and destiny which combine to make this such a wonderful and compelling read. If you loved The Miniaturist like me, this is a must read; Simply Sublime.

I would like to thank Kate Green at Picador Books for sending me an advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review.