The Miniaturist follows eighteen-year-old bride, Petronella “Nella” Brandt as she adjusts to married life in 1600s Amsterdam. Her husband, Johannes, is kind but distant, charming but elusive and rarely present in her daily life. Marin, Johannes’ sister, who is devoutly religious, further drives a wedge into their marriage with her unsettling closeness to her brother and seemingly haughty nature.  
 
As a wedding present, Johannes gifts Nella an extraordinary but impractical doll cabinet that he tasks her with furnishing. When she commissions furnishing from a local miniaturist, she receives more than she bargains for when extra items are sent with an unnerving similarity to real life.
 
The novel is a slow burn that is well worth the four-hundred page read. Burton is one of those precious writers of whom reading their work is a joy and pleasure of its own. She will also have you analyzing every scene and sentence, looking for clues. Although the story is branded as a mystery, at the heart of the story are the deeply flawed characters who are each self-serving towards their own interests. This conflict makes for a gripping read as do the social and religious hypocrisies highlighted throughout the novel.