Nella Oortman, scion of an old and distinguished, but impoverished, dutch family, comes to Amsterdam in 1686 to live with Johannes Brandt, wealthy merchant of that city, to whom she has recently been married.
Johannes is not there to greet her, but his sister Marin is, along with their servants Cornelia, brought to the house as an orphan, and Otto, a former slave brought back by Johannes on one of his voyages.
When Johannes returns, he gives Nella a wedding present, a cabinet which is essentially a dolls house, and suggests she can keep herself occupied by furnishing it. Finding the name of a Miniaturist in the equivalent of the Yellow Pages, Nella orders some items for her cabinet, but additional items keep being delivered which may or may not be relevant to Nella's circumstances.
I found this book ultimately unsatisfying. The clues given by the miniaturists gifts are too obscure for either Nella or the reader to understand, and the ending just leaves more questions than answers.
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