The House Of Fortune is a wonderfully surprising return to the world of Jessie Burton's debut novel, The Miniaturist. Bringing us back to the characters who first introduced us to the whimsy and brilliance of Burton's writing style, around eighteen years on from where the Miniaturist closed, The House Of Fortune brings us a new age plagued with different issues and enticing secrets.
From the blurb;
'In the golden city of Amsterdam, in 1705, Thea Brandt is turning eighteen, and she is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms. At the city's theater, Walter, the love of her life, awaits her, but at home in the house on the Herengracht, all is not well - her father Otto and Aunt Nella argue endlessly, and the Brandt family are selling their furniture in order to eat. On Thea's birthday, also the day that her mother Marin died, the secrets from the past begin to overwhelm the present.
'Nella is desperate to save the family and maintain appearances, to find Thea a husband who will guarantee her future, and when they receive an invitation to Amsterdam's most exclusive ball, she is overjoyed. Perhaps this will set their fortunes straight.
'And indeed, the ball does set things spinning: new figures enter their life, promising new futures. But their fates are still unclear, and when Nella feels a strange prickling sensation on the back of her neck she remembers the miniaturist who entered her life and toyed with her fortunes eighteen years ago. Perhaps, now, she has returned for her....'
Read through the switching perspectives of Nella and Thea, The House Of Fortune, provides us with a narrator we already know, and one we are just meeting. This combination makes the book feel like a comforting return to a world we have visited before, scattered with newness that we have yet to experience.
Burton has crafted her characters well, understanding the human nature of youth, love, and fear of what has been left behind against the need to survive the present, to bring to us a beautiful historic novel enriched with colour and passion.
Thea, a new face to a returning cast, is a head strong character, leading the charge of the stories plot. While at times she is annoying in her youth, Thea remains a character we can understand.
Through the lens of the past Burton brings into the question issues of the present world. Throwing a spot light on racism and the history of the white upper classes, while also questioning the accuracy of the of history that we have in relation to sex, class and marriage.
This rendering of 1705 is as enticing and it is captivating, spelling the reader into the past, chasing the story through the warrens of Burton's complex narrative built on secrets, lies, and a touch of super natural mystery.
As the tensions build throughout the book we remain grateful for this return to see what happened to our characters after the shocking close of The Miniaturist. A return that comes unexpectedly from Burton, but that we love to see, and thoroughly enjoyed reading.
We give The House Of Fortune Five Stars.
ISBN - 978-1509886081
Hardback Cover Price - £16.99
First published in 2022 by Picador an imprint of Pan MacMillan