The Miniaturist

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This book is transporting, and intriguing, with layers of mystery which draw the reader in further and further. It’s absolutely fantastic to read. The main character is easy to sympathise with as a contemporary woman, although her concerns are very much rooted in her own era. This is something I have found rare in historical fiction previously, so often it seems that either the main character stepped out of our own century, or she is so far away from our time that she is impossible to relate to. Nella Oortman is easy to become invested in and sympathise with. I wanted to step into the pages and hug her at her low moments and felt proud of her as I watched her grow. The side characters were equally well molded and their slow reveal to the reader only made the book more intriguing. I would recommend this book to any young woman my own age. The sense of being without direction that haunts the protagonist was strangely relatable to me as a woman who has just finished university and has not yet begun my career. I just hope I don’t need a supernatural craftsperson to sort me out because I haven’t heard of any in Wymondham.