North London Reading Group

Burton’s debut novel has won a number of plaudits, with The Observer and Waterstones booksellers both calling it 2014’s book of the year.

The novel tells of a doll’s house in old Amsterdam furnished with items that predict events in the life of its owner.

Our newest fiction group – born at our February social – thought that, for a first novel, it was very well written. However, they did believe that they needed to suspend their belief in the plot at times.

The overall opinion was that, considering the time in which it was set (Amsterdam 1686), the characters wouldn’t ALL necessarily have come to terms with the issues they were facing with such a modern and contemporary attitude. The words “but that wouldn’t possibly have happened!” did come up on a regular basis.

One of our more established groups didn’t really fault the book at all. They thought that the plot moved along at a realistic pace and the characters were all “likeable and believable”. They also thought that the writer did an amazing job of placing us right at the heart of Amsterdam, almost to the effect that “they actually felt like they were there”.

They also found the series of predicaments and puzzles that the main character found herself solving to be “very intriguing” to the extent that they sympathised with her very much and “liked and loved her” all the more for it.

Have you read The Minaturist? Tell us what you thought below.