Instead, she is greeted coldly by Johannes’s sister, Marin. However, she is disappointed to find Johannes absent when she arrives. Nella is impressed by her husband’s mansion, which looks out onto the canal. After marrying Dutch merchant Johannes Brandt, Nella has come to live with her husband on the Golden Bend, Amsterdam's wealthiest area. In 1686, 18-year-old Petronella (Nella) Oortman arrives in Amsterdam from her rural hometown of Assendelft. This guide refers to the 2014 Picador paperback edition. The novel’s themes include gender roles and autonomy, the nature of love, and appearances versus reality. The narrative combines historical detail with elements of mystery and suspense as Nella receives cryptic gifts from a miniaturist (an artist who creates miniature models) who has uncanny insight into her life. Narrated in the third person, the story follows the coming-of-age of protagonist Nella Oortman within a marriage that meets none of her girlish expectations. A work of historical fiction, The Miniaturist is set in 17th-century Amsterdam.
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