The Miniaturist (Jessie Burton)

The Miniaturist is another exquisite piece of literature that had me checking Wikipedia, googling Dutch names and tracing streets and squares on Google Maps to learn and read more about the historical aspects of the story and the city in which it is set.

I spent a few days in Amsterdam last July and stayed in a hotel in the area of Nella's house. Her descriptions of the canals, the Dam, the Stadhuis (now an upmarket shopping centre) and the VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie - the United East India Company) created many moments of nostalgia and a yearning to visit the city again and learn more.

One reviewer has likened this book to an edition of Downton Abbey but this cheapens the story and the characters and demeans what Burton has achieved to the level of nonsensical TV soap opera. 

This story is so much more than this. It's a rich story that saddens and surprises the reader at every turn, and I dearly hope there is a sequel that takes us into Nella's later life.