Crime thriller set in AMSTERDAM
Novel set in early 18th Century AMSTERDAM
23rd September 2025
The House of Fortune by Jessie Burton, novel set in early 18th Century Amsterdam.
#fromourbookshelves
The Miniaturist was the first outing for the Brandt family, published in 2014, with over one million copies sold. It was also winner of the Specsavers National Book Award 2014 and Waterstones Book of the Year in the same year. It was selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club 2015. It was a novel I very much enjoyed and we were delighted to feature on the TripFiction website, given the strength of time and place evoked in the novel.
Otto Brandt lives now with his daughter on the Herengracht, he is a black man with a mixed daughter. Living with them is Aunt Nella, and Cornelia, their servant. They live in reduced circumstances and Nella, for one, is acutely aware of their impoverished situation.
They have been invited to Clara Sarragon’s mansion on Prinsengracht for the Epiphany Ball, and given their cultural background, it seems they may have been invited for their curiosity value. However, now is the time to find a suitable husband for Thea, as she has just turned eighteen. Unbeknownst to her family, however, Thea is already in love with Walter Riebeeck, the set designer at the playhouse and she uses every opportunity she can to discreetly meet him. This is the early 18th Century, so I felt their relationship – portrayed as full of lust and carnal exploration – didn’t feel quite right for someone so young in that particular era. She can cover her tracks because she is a keen theatre-goer and enjoys seeing resident actress Rebecca Bosmann, who, given their various encounters, has now become a friend to Thea.
Otto has just lost his job, so they are in a critical financial situation. At the Ball, he made the acquaintance of Sarragon’s botanist and the two men draw up a timely plan to grow pineapples but that will naturally take time. Given, therefore, the current lack of income, there is a greater urgency to find Thea a good match. At the Ball, Nella happens upon a suitable young man who seems interested and the necessary steps are set in motion. Can Thea be persuaded to engage and see the merit of marriage? Unfolding drama ensues when miniatures – at the heart of the first book – start to appear. The first is of Walter, sent to Thea, which is followed by an extortion note threatening to bring her secret affair to life. And ruination of her family.
The book sets off at quite a slow pace, and having read The Miniaturist when it first came out, I now struggled to remember the exact detail and plot development of the original; this novel at some level assumes knowledge. Therefore it would be helpful to read The Miniaturist first so the interwoven lives of the characters on the Herengracht make sense in The House of Fortune.
The author has clearly researched the period in great detail and the sense of place is so well rendered, in beautiful prose. A wonderfully transportive read.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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