Back in 2014, Jessie Burton released her debut novel, The Miniaturist, which went on to become an international bestseller. Set in 17th century Amsterdam, the story follows Petronella ‘Nella’ Oortman who acquires a curious doll’s house after starting life in an arranged marriage. The novel was so popular that it was adapted by the BBC in 2017, with Anya Taylor Joy in the lead role. 

And it turns out that the story is not over yet, as Burton has just announced a sequel.

Set 18 years after the events of The Miniaturist, Burton’s The House Of Fortune begins on Thea Brandt’s 18th birthday, and she is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms. At home things are difficult – her father Otto and Aunt Nella argue endlessly, the Brandt family are selling their furniture in order to eat, and on Thea’s birthday, also the day that her mother Marin died, the secrets from the past threaten to overwhelm the present.

Nella is desperate 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, but their fates are still unclear, and when Nella feels a strange prickling sensation on the back of her neck, she wonders if the miniaturist has returned…

“If The Miniaturist changed my life, then The House Of Fortune is the happy reckoning,” Burton said in a statement shared with Stylist. “When I was ready the characters were waiting, and it felt as if I had been writing for a future self who would want to continue when the time was right. 

“Just like The Miniaturist, this new novel of Nella Brandt and her niece, Thea, comes from the heart, from a different pocket in my writer’s understanding. Set 18 years on in the life of the Brandt family, The House Of Fortune is a novel about fate and loss, memory, second chances and renewal.

“I’m indebted to my editor, Sophie Jonathan, and my agent, Juliet Mushens, for their constant care and enthusiasm in helping me create this next stage of Nella’s life. It’s such an honour to write a novel about looking back whilst moving forward, just like my heroine does herself, and I cannot wait for readers to be reunited with her, in the house on the Heren canal.”

Excited? Well you don’t have too long to wait: Picador will publish The House Of Fortune in July 2022. 

Images: BBC, Picador