Pan Macmillan (7 July 2022)

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for my advance review copy of this book.

A Doll’s House ★★★☆☆

I imagine a lot of us have been eagerly awaiting the publication of this sequel to The Miniaturist (2014).

Set eighteen years later, baby Thea is now a young woman on the cusp of love and passionate about the theatre. However, the Brandt family’s future hinges on Thea marrying well, her wings clipped by a good match.

Now in in her mid thirties, Nella is set on securing a financial and social future for her family. Where once she was timid and hopeful, now she is unyielding and guided by grim determination.

As Thea struggles with her family’s expectations and poverty and yearns for snippets about her mother and uncle, Nella tries to fend off the ghosts of her past and the spectres of the future.

And then the parcels start to arrive again…

I did enjoy this sequel. It was good to be with the characters again and I was really rooting for them all, especially Nella, although she has grown some very hard edges. However, there didn’t seem to be as much happening as in the first novel, and the miniatures also felt like they had less of a role.

An enjoyable sequel to an intricate classic.

Oh how i loved this first chapter, i was completely drawn in.. and very frustrated when the chapter ended. i loved the miniaturist, so have high hopes for this..

This was definitely one of my most anticipated reads of the year 🤩 I was such a big fan of The Miniaturist and love Jessie’s writing. This story picks up eighteen years later and I LOVED being in this world again.

The writing is so atmospheric and descriptive. I could picture myself walking through the streets 18th Century Amsterdam. Jessie creates this world of wonder and intrigue which feels so immersive, and she is a brilliant storyteller. Many of the characters from The Miniaturist feature such as Nella, Otto, Cordelia and Thea (now eighteen), and some new ones too. The plot had a couple of twists which I didn’t see coming and I think it’s definitely a worthy sequel. I enjoyed every minute ☺️

If you are a fan of The Miniaturist then definitely check it out, and historical fiction fans will also love it.

An enjoyable sequel to 'The Miniaturist'. Atmospheric with a cast of interesting characters. I can imagine this making an excellent limited series.

The relationship between the female characters is complex and I particularly liked this aspect of the novel.

I have enjoyed all of Jessie Burton's novels and would buy every book she writes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

I really enjoyed "The House of Fortune" by Jessie Burton, the long-awaited sequel to "The Miniaturist". It was well worth the wait. It doesn't appear to be as "mystical" as the original but that doesn't matter as the story is solid, with an excellent follow-on plot 18 years later. Nella is late 30's, Otto early 40s and Thea just turned 18. The miniaturist once again plays puppet-master but this time with Thea. Life of an 18 year-old is tough but luckily she has Nella there and the hindsight of her dealings with the Miniaturists gifts. Would highly recommend!

A masterpiece! Having loved the Miniaturist I feared I would not enjoy this as much, but I loved it, even more, Although a few years ago I found the characters had been so well drawn it took little time to get back into 18th century Amsterdam again. I've enjoyed Burton's modern novels also but think she has a particular gift for painting a picture of the historical setting. The detail is so enlightening and vivid and yet the book is so readable it trips along lightly. The characters are again so well-drawn they jump off the page and again it will look beautiful on screen. While I would love to hear more about this dynasty, I wonder if maybe the symmetry and balance of where The Miniaturist began and this novel ends mean Burton has brought this to a natural conclusion? Hope I'm wrong though!
My book of 2022.

Thank you NetGalley and PanMacmillan for the ARC

Well I devoured the new @jessieburton The House of Fortune in just one day. This is the long anticipated sequel to The Miniaturist. I’m not sure you have to read that to enjoy this one but it’s so gorgeous - why wouldn’t you?

We are transported back to the World of Nella Brandt to the beautiful, haunting rooms of the house of the Brandt family & its secrets.

This book picks up 18 years after the end of the first. 17th century Amsterdam with its merchants & mores advances. But we join thr household of Nella, Otto, Thea & Cornelia live weathered by years & lack of money. A shabbier, stilted interior. But this is no typical family.

Before you switch off & think this book sounds like mothballed historical fiction it is anything but. This is a novel confined but fizzing with life. The halls, the rooms she writes are as tastefully curated as a Farrow & Ball shoot. Her players are exquisitely drawn, substantial characters. You almost feel you can reach into to pages of the books to examine them - just like the miniatures who once again play their part in this novel.

This is a universal story. The story of Thea struggling to find her place in life. And Nella’s struggle too - older but stuck & maybe no wiser. It is never too late to start again, to listen to your guiding heart. Will this family find a new way? Will the Miniaturist guide or sideline them?

It is simply unputdownable.

#jessieburton #thehouseoffortune #theminiaturist #newbookalert #summerreads

I was so excited to read the long-awaited sequel to 'The Miniaturist' and I was not to be disappointed. If you loved 'The Miniaturist' you will love this. I honestly do not think it mattered what plot Burton produced wrote this time round, I was so thrilled to be back in the lives of Nella, Otto and Coralie that I would have taken anything. As a plus, the plot is strong, a bit weak in places but it kept my interest and I particularly liked the ending.
Once again, Burton really evokes the atmosphere and location perfectly for the reader. I was transported to Amsterdam and loved imagining the goings on as I read them.
This is a very worthy sequel and I highly recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy.

The House of Fortune provides the welcome opportunity to revisit the characters remaining from The Miniaturist. We are reintroduced to Nella, Otto and Cornelia, and introduced to baby Thea, now eighteen. She feels stifled by the love that is all directed at her and yearns for a life outside the household; that seems to involve a teenage crush and a passionate affair.
There is a hint that the years have changed Nella, Thea saying she is the first to find fault; that sounds more like Marin. The first chapter sets up the delicious prospect of finding out more about Otto’s past, Thea’s future and just what has happened to all the money. Sequels aren’t always a good idea – is it possible to recapture the magic of the original? I think Jessie Burton has done just that here – it was a pleasure to re-enter the house on Herengracht despite it being a shadow of its former glory.
Amsterdam is still a place where appearances really matter and where everyone has a nose in everyone else’s business. Nella’s concern about Thea’s (and indeed the whole household’s) future is all-consuming. Reading this it struck me (as it had not done at the time) how condensed the time frame of The Miniaturist is – just three months elapsed between Nella arriving in Amsterdam and everything coming to a head.
I really liked hearing about Nella’s own family and what she had to endure as a child but was a bit disappointed not to learn more about Otto’s early life. Perhaps there’s scope for a final trip to Amsterdam to find out? I’d be near the front of the queue to read it.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚎 by Jessie Burton 4/5⭐️

eARC kindly provided by @netgalley and @panmacmillan, out tomorrow 07/07

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦 is the follow up/ companion novel to Jessie’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 which I avidly recommend reading prior to this one.

Amsterdam is once again our backdrop and the story picks up 18 years after. We follow 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘢, born into secrecy to an interracial couple, and her desire of emancipate of her family and start her adult life with her lover, a deceitful painter of the local theatre. At the same time, we follow her family fortune and wealth crumbling down, with Auntie 𝘕𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 resorting to try and marry Thea off to a wealthy man to save them. Needless to say, things don’t go too well.

The story is character-driven, based on relationships dynamics and family secrets, which for me made a lot of sense in this narrative. We see how the changes of the year and the struggles that the 18th century Amsterdam habitants might have had, the pressures of the society and the promises of fortune.

The characters are given this sort of melancholic and nostalgic depth and complexity and you can’t help to identify with their struggles: 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘢, divided between the love of her family and the excitement of adulthood; 𝘕𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢, torn between the past and the future.

I really enjoyed how Burton dealt with the ostracization of 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘢’s origins, making it an essential line to the plot, but not the centre of the book.

The writing remains exquisite and immersive. I felt the cold of the canals, the pleasure and excitement of the pineapple, the anger of the comments that the Brandt Family endured.

I was quite sad of the little appearances that the 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 has on this story. I am not really sure about the role of said appearances and the miniatures that are narrated on this second book. I expected slightly more magical realism on this sequel and felt that the 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 appearances were slightly forced, making it confusing.

Whilst I think this book is not as intricate as the first one, it was still a joyful experience to read it and dive back to historical fiction. 🍍

I'm always glad when I read a book that has had a lot of hype and it's actually worth all the bother. There's such a lot of hype out there. Anyway, The Miniaturist was such a book - an atmospheric tale of secrets that seeped through the house and family like damp from the Amsterdam canals.

The House of Fortune is a sequel to The Miniaturist and is not one of those sequels that you can read without the original. We return, 18 years after the end of the first book, to the house on the Herengracht to find that (spoiler alert for the first book) Marin's baby, Thea is now eighteen years old. Her aunt Nella and her father are considering her future: her aunt has worked hard to restore the family's reputation and considers a good marriage to be the best solution for them all. Her father Otto does not agree but times are hard, he has lost his job and they are running out of treasures inside the house to sell. He tentatively looks at a plan to grow tropical fruit using Nella's family land on the marshes, against Nella's wishes.

Thea has a plan of her own. An avid theatre fan, she has fallen in love with a set painter and betrothes herself to him. But one day she receives a box containing a miniature figure of her lover. Who has made this? How did they know?

And so we are launched back into the secretive, gossiping world of seventeenth century Amsterdam where reputation and riches court each other and shun others. Has the Miniaturist returned? What does she know of their lives? Can they secure their fortune and fully restore their reputation, tarnished by events in the first book?

Sequels are usually problematic and for me, can have the power to ruin the original. Luckily this isn't the case here. Burton brings us back into the world of her debut novel deftly as if we haven't been away. While I don't think this book is as intricately plotted as the first book, it is nevertheless still a captivating story. I liked what the intervening years had done to Nella - she had shades of Marin about her as she went about her business, while Thea is a bright spark against the secretive damp dark world of Dutch intrigue. If you liked the first book, this is a guaranteed enjoyable read.

Amsterdam the year 1705, Thea Brandt is celebrating her 18th birthday in her house on the Golden Bend, a prestigious address on the Herengracht.
Not a child, not quite an adult.
Her passion is the Theatre, where she can lose herself within its plays and comedies.
Is this grand house all it seems?
Secrecy, family loyalty what else?
Will Thea find the answers to her many questions?

I have to say I absolutely loved this book. It had me hooked from the first, till last page and I devoured every page.
The main characters in the book, Thea, her Papa Otto, Aunt Nella and Cornelia were finely described, and I could empathise with their characters.
I don’t want to give away the plot, hence I won’t elaborate on the story, suffice to say this novel exceeded my expectations, and I am so glad I have read it, and totally enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an e-book copy, in an exchange for my honest review.

Was I pages in and having to Google the Minaturist, to remind myself who these people were?
Yes, I was. I don't remember much about the first book beyond I really liked it.
Same here, I really liked it.
Each of the characters has something appealing to them, and their love and loyalty to each other shines when it's needed.
The house is beautifully pictured in my mind, and I almost wished for that miniature version myself.
It's a story of scandal and secrets and trying to fit into society... and a story of a self made family that left me feeling there should probably be a third book.
I'm willing to wait a few years.

I love Jessie Burton’s writing, and this looks as if it is going to be another brilliant read. The writing is beautiful, elegant and compelling and I am excited for the beautiful Waterstones exclusive hardback to arrive.

Jessie Burton is fast becoming one of my most favourite authors.

What a teaser, I can’t wait to get my hands on the full text!

The Miniaturist is one of my favourite books, and it will be a joy to discover what happened to Nella in the years following her I’ll-fated marriage and to see how baby Thea fared growing up in a house of secrets.

An interesting sampler. I am now looking forward to reading the rest of the story and hope that it’s a worthy sequel to The Miniaturist.

All the world's a stage, but the Amsterdam of Jessie Burton's 'The House of Fortune' is closer to a panopticon. Set eighteen years after the events of The Miniaturist, Thea's aunt Nella seems stuck in the past and worried about the future, but Thea doesn't know why their old house echos with so many secrets.

Thea is eighteen, just as Nella was when we met her, but she is more interested in stealing away to the playhouse than considering the future her family plan for her; her head is in the clouds, full of story and adventure and first love. She is unaware of or uncaring about the eyes that follow her everywhere, but the pious, proud merchant class of the "city of surveillance" still watch her every move. The colour of her skin, the mystery of her birth and the coinciding scandal surrounding the Brandt family make her as intriguing and exotic as the pineapples from far off lands shown off at society parties that hint to riches and pastures new.

Beauty and morality is a thread that follows from the first book, with beautiful objects and goods holding high value in the society with one hand and being condemned as evil with the other. Pleasure is allowed when it is something you can buy and something you can make money from, but for the characters to feel pleasure in their bodies or agency over their lives brings on scandal and condemnation. Both women are trapped inside the large, empty house that is a refuge and a prison, a last defence against the outside world.

A return of a sinister presence in the form of an unmarked package brings the two women eye to eye for the first time. It is no wonder then that the Miniaturist that seems to see inside their minds as well as their home offers an alternative to their destinies. Both women begin with very different ideas of what freedom can mean, but the tumultuous events of the book allow them to see the past and their futures with completely new eyes. Destiny and agency has been the forefront of Burton's novels so far, including The Muse and The Confession, and it's interesting to see how she revisits her first novel to again try to resolve this question. Writing a sequel was a risky move considering the popularity of her debut, and while I know nothing would ever quite measure up to when I first read The Minaturist, The House of Fortune is a spectacular follow up

This is wonderful! But when is the whole book available on NetGalley? The 5* is only for this first chapter!

I LOVED the miniaturist, so when I found out there was a second book coming out I was very excited. It did not disappoint. My favourite book so far this year

One of the most hotly anticipated novels of the year has arrived – and it doesn’t disappoint.

Fast forward 18 years on from The Miniaturist and we return to Amsterdam where we meet Nella’s niece Thea at a pivotal time in her life. The once-opulent house on the Herengracht is now down-at-heel and getting shabbier by the day as the occupants are fast becoming insolvent.
Nella has a plan to net Thea a wealthy husband which should solve all of their financial woes whilst securing Thea’s future within Amsterdam’s elite society, however true love inevitably gets in the way. Nella, Otto and Theo each have secrets to keep and problems to navigate which put almost irrevocably more strain upon the family dynamics.
Until a familiar looking parcel is left on the doorstep…
If you liked The Miniaturist, I’m sure you’ll enjoy returning to the household to see just how Johannes and Marin’s legacies have played out.