NOTE: I was given early access to this manuscript in exchange for writing an impartial review. Thank you netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing. Publication: August 30, 2022. I'd give THE HOUSE OF FORTUNE 4.5 stars if I could.

This sequel to Jessie Burton's novel THE MINIATURIST exceeded my expectations. Her skill in incorporating rich historical detail, her subtle insights into genuine human emotion, and her ability to make each character vivid, believable, and distinct makes this a deeply engaging read.

It's NOT that this is an ACTION-packed piece of historical fiction. It's just a story about everyday life in 1700s Amsterdam where one family wrestles with financial difficulties, social standing, and the need to find a suitable husband for an eligible young woman. For those of you familiar with THE MINIATURST, this "family" consists of:
• Nella, the young bride in THE MINIATURIST, now in her mid 30s, is still living in her late husband's prestigious home in central Amsterdam.
• Otto, the intelligent and loyal former family slave, now acts as man of the house.
• Cornelia continues to maintain their home -- as housekeeper, cook, and all around caretaker.
• Thea, the 18 year-old daughter of Otto and Nella's deceased sister-in-law (Marin), is now everyone's central object of love in this unusually constructed family unit.

Typical for this era, Thea's marital eligibility is seen as the key to making the Brandt family financially solvent again. But just what ARE the prospects for a mixed-race girl whose family has already suffered public shame? And how cooperative is Thea likely to be when the others try to put responsibility for the entire family's future onto her shoulders? Might she not have romantic dreams of her own?

It's a wonderful and cleverly-constructed story about the limitations and expectations of women in this time period. About the ways we are all influenced by our histories and too often, try to impose our deepest wishes on those we love most. And about the damage than can be done by those who keep secrets. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for this ARC.

I did not read The Miniaturist, yet The House of Fortune was still enjoyable as a standalone story. I did a quick search to get the overall background, just so I knew a little more about the history of the Brandt family. Covering the life of Thea from her 18th birthday and beyond, including her complicated relationships with her family, namely her father, Aunt Nella, and her nurse Cornelia, The House of Fortune includes Thea's identity struggles, partly due to the fact she lost her mother to complications surrounding her own birth. As such, Thea also faces controversy within her own heart versus her family's expectations for her life.

The author includes the surrounding acts of a young woman falling in love, building friendships with shared secrets, social interactions, societal expectations, and interacting with suitors. Each member of the Brandt family has their own hopes and desires for the future, but none are able to really expand upon these dreams due to the actions of others, along with the ramifications and outcomes of the past.

I wanted to guide Thea and explain some possible outcomes due to her actions, as her mother might have had she lived. But, it was her series of choices that led to a neatly tied-up closure, bringing her family together for a unified fate.

The Netherlands in 1705 was a magical place, and the author's descriptions of house decor, textiles, food, and clothing were a breath of fresh air. I could absolutely imagine how treasures such as miniature dolls would be received and coveted during this era. Additionally, the pineapple itself is a symbol of wealth and power in the 18th Century, so the introduction of the fruit early in the book ties in with the wealth of one family juxtaposed with Otto Brandt's past in Surinam, combining opulence and hospitality.

Overall, this is a decent coming-of-age story about a young girl who makes some bad choices, as so many do, yet moves forward with her life.

I enjoyed this sequel to 'The Miniaturist', which was one of my favourite books in 2015 .'

The House of Fortune' opens eighteen years after the dramatic conclusion of 'The Miniaturist' and introduces us to Otto's daughter Thea, who years for love and adventure but is destined for an arranged marriage to save her family's flagging fortunes. This leads to conflict between her and her family, with the return of the mysterious miniaturist, the revelation of family secrets and the setting of Amsterdam in 1705 adding spice to the mix. While I didn't love this sequel as much as I did its precursor, it was an enjoyable read for lovers of historical fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

What a treat to return to the Amsterdam of Jessie Burton's THE MINIATURIST! THE HOUSE OF FORTUNE lacks some of the magic which made its predecessor such an international hit--Nevertheless it is a rich and rewarding read of complex family dynamics, woven of wonderfully researched historic threads.

Highly recommended--and many thanks to Bloomsbury and to Netgalley for the opportunity and the pleasure of an early read.

I wanted to love this but there were some intensive descriptions over the most random things. The book had some interesting storylines and it was a great example of historical fiction.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I couldn't review this title because the ARC file was corrupt or otherwise impossible to read. Which is a shame.

This is the sequel to The Miniaturist, which I loved.

This book starts with Thea celebrating her eighteenth birthday and attending Amsterdam’s most exclusive ball at which potential husbands are met. There is one candidate that aunt Nella likes a lot, but not so much Thea as she has her heart set on Walter, painter at playhouse. And as it turns out, someone else knows her secret and now demands money or Nella’s life will be ruined.

As the story is mainly about family dynamics/secrets, there is very little to the plot. The family dynamics are well-presented. Young Thea represents a character that despite family’s expectations she tries to forge her own path, but she struggles with it. Her character is to learn from her experience and come stronger at the end, and I believe that is the main point of the story. It could be also family struggles against society’s expectations. Nevertheless, I don’t see a strong point of this story.

The characters are well-developed and kept me engaged for about the first third of the story. In the second third, the story is not making much progression and the characters start losing their appeal. It picks up in the third part of the story, with some events happening.

This story is character-driven, which I love, and based on family dynamics/secrets, which doesn't necessarily appeal to me. Thus, I was hoping for strong sense of place in regards to Amsterdam to give the story more vibrancy. But it’s not there.

The miniaturist appears a few times in this story, but it’s just a mention of her and some miniatures. It is a bit confusing what that is about. In the first book, it is the miniature copy of the house they live in and then followed by miniature things that fill the house. In this following book, I’m not sure what this is about. It feels forced in the story, as it had to be somehow woven since it’s the sequel book.

I loved reading this book! I found the writing to be very insightful and interesting. I was intrigued by the premise and I enjoyed reading it from start to finish.

“You cannot have two stories. You can end with only one.”

A wonderful story! I actually did not realize that this was a sequel to The Miniaturist, which I have not read, but now feel compelled to.

Set in early 18th-century Amsterdam, there isn’t too much explicit discussion of the pressures of that particular society, but it was a fascinating time. Amsterdam was a city made almost entirely of immigrants, but still suspicious of “otherness;” a city of people who revered money and religious piety, generally in that order. In such a setting, we find our heroine, Thea, a motherless mixed-race child growing up with her patchwork family, all of them desperately trying to maintain appearances while their finances run perilously low. Our second heroine is her aunt Nella, who has survived a bad marriage and helped raise Thea from infancy.

To be honest, the sequence of events that follows this setup is of less importance than the development of those two women throughout. Don’t get me wrong, the story is good — love affairs, society balls, blackmail, betrayals, disappearances, and don’t forget the PINEAPPLES — but I think the truly magical aspect of this narrative is how Thea and Nella are changed by it.

Thea and Nella seem to start in completely opposite places: one is a young girl desperate for true love, travel, and escape from her overbearing family. The other is a woman twice her age who craves stability, security, and the maintenance of “respectable” appearances. As the story progresses, their connection is stretched seemingly to its limits, but the parallels between them become more and more apparent. Somehow, despite such contrasting beginnings, they end up in the same place, the separate transformation each has undergone only bringing her closer to the other woman. It is a spectacularly nuanced story of female relationships.

For those of you not as into nuance, there is also a fat cat named Lucas, a mysterious set of miniatures, a little plot twist involving blackmail, and a tropical botanist with wild hair. Something for everyone!

“The House of Fortune” was my first dip in the waters of true blue historical literature - I’m not one for media like Bridgerton, or Pride and Prejudice, etc., but this book kept me interested the entire time was I reading!

“The House of Fortune” is the second book in “The Miniaturist” series, following Otto’s daughter, Thea. She has just turned 18 and is experience the troubles of a young woman living in Amsterdam - true love, the yearn for freedom, and the judgement of the socialite society in the city. Thea also has to deal with race issues - her father is black, and her mother, who died in childbirth, was white. There is a mystery that surrounds her mother because Thea’s household - her father, aunt Nella, and housemaid Cornelia - refuse to talk to about her due to the pain of her death.

I thought the family dynamics of the characters were very interesting and very real - as the reader, my opinion of the characters was constantly changing, much like real families. Their struggles and life were not something I could relate to, but Burton wrote the family dynamics as if they felt relatable and close to home. As a former teenage girl (albeit in a VERY different situation than Thea), I found how Thea was feeling very familiar, and felt for her, not only as a character, but as a teenager in general.

I wish we got to “experience” more of Amsterdam, because the way Burton wrote it made it seem like an incredible time and place to be. I loved how she painted the pictures of each place the family or Thea was at, but I just wanted MORE of it.

I found, however, that sometimes the amount of detail on small things was a little much, and at some points I find myself thinking “okay…let’s get to the point…”. I felt the book could’ve even been a little shorter, maybe like 20-30 pages.

I liked how there was almost like, a few subplots in the book. Once one situation ended I found myself thinking “How is there still so much left of the book?” Because the book seemed to have multiple peaks. I know that it didn’t bother me, but at times it did seem a little scattered. There were certain things in the book that I thought didn’t really need to happen (parts of the storyline with Walter I felt like we were beating a dead horse), but I still liked that Burton was able to tie it all back together.

I expected there to be more magical realism in this book, since it was described as such, and I know the first book had a ton of it. I was a little disappointed by the lack of the actual Miniaturist in the book, and when she was around, it felt like she was just there randomly? You could have taken the Miniaturist out of the book completely and it wouldn’t have made a difference, and in fact, was a little distracting. It just seemed like the Miniaturist was just there because she was in the first book, and needed to be in the second? It was confusing at points as to why she was even being brought up.

All in all, I’m happy I had the chance to read this book because it made me excited for historical fiction! I can see why the first book in the series was a best seller, and am excited to see if there are more books in the series.

'The House of Fortune' is the sequel to the best selling book 'The Miniaturist'. The story follows a now 18 year old Thea Brandt coming of age in Amsterdam who still lives with her aunt Nella, maid Cornelia, and father Otto. The aftermath of the Johannes Brandt scandal continues to haunt the family leaving them nearly destitute. Reality is harsher than ever for the Brandt’s who are tasked with finding creative ways to stay afloat amidst mounting debts and societal pressures. Thea’s coming of age mirrors Nella's and her deceased mother Marin’s–discomforting Nella, Cornelia, and Otto who have not shared the honest truth about Thea’s conception. The miniaturist may or may not be peering into their lives once again which forces the family to confront inner demons of freedom, sacrifice, and change.

'The House of Fortune' lacks the enchanting magical realism of 'The Miniaturist'. It is not the central focus of the book nor does it drive the plot forward in the same way. Rather, it is the absence of the miniaturist that forces the characters to closely examine their lives away from the prying eyes of society in order to see things as they actually are and not what they would like it to be.

Despite the lack of magical mystery, I was entranced by the story which still had a voyeuristic element to it, making it feel as though I was peeking through a keyhole in one of the many cold and empty rooms of the Brandt household. Themes surrounding choices, consequences, free-will, and fate are excellently researched and explored and certainly not specific to 18th century Amsterdam. Thea and her family represent a miniature or microcosm of their time and place in history, and the hardships they endure trying to navigate these problems is at the heart of the story.

The Brandt’s are a fascinating family to read about and it’s hard not to be emotionally invested in their struggles for survival. While I typically only enjoy historical fiction that has a magical quality to it, 'The House of Fortune' still had me guessing to the very end, leaving questions unanswered once again.

I so loved this book and getting to return to Bella’s world. I read this just after a trip to the Netherlands, which definitely enhanced the experience, but Burton has such a gift for sensory writing that I’m certain a reader who has never been to Amsterdam would enjoy it every bit as much. It’s historical fiction wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a love story about chosen family, and I loved every page of it.

What a wonderful surprise to get a sequel, and again, a triumph….I loved losing myself in the world of 1700s Amsterdam, and it’s another engaging story, with the ever-present miniturist.

Happy to chat it up, and here comes another slam-dunk.