a b "Jessie Burton: I never thought of The Miniaturist as ambitious". BBC News. 2 December 2014 . Retrieved 23 December 2014. Yes, yes, I know. The mystery is predictable. And yes, I guessed the mysterious character’s identity pretty early on. But so what? I feel it’s wrong to think of this book as a mystery. It’s not about solving the puzzle; it’s about so much else. It's a good book to put someone suffering insomnia to sleep. I yawned a lot and paused a lot and read a lot of another book in between. I mostly exaggerate when I'm disappointed but I'll give credit where credit is due. It's not the worst book out there and it can appeal to someone with a different taste. I liked the beginning and parts near the unsatisfactory end. But the middle content was a meh. Part of the novel is set in Spain, in the 30s, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of an art dealer, works in secret. Her paintings are fraudulently sold in London as the creation of a handsome young Spaniard named Isaac with whom Olive is in love. A parallel narrative belongs to Odelle, a West Indian writer in 60s London whose stories are submitted anonymously for publication. “I became interested in how ego, personality and identity are tied into not only the creation of a work but its commodification – the cult of the artist – and how people will attach extra value to a work because a particular person has painted it when, had they no idea who had created it, they would not pay as much.”

The House of Fortune, a sequel to The Miniaturist, was published in 2022. [17] Works [ edit ] Adult novels So, so true, and that’s something many artists struggle with. If someone doesn’t like your work, it doesn’t mean they think you’re a terrible person, but at times this is difficult to believe. Sweeping from London in the sixties to 1930s rural Spain, The Muse is an unforgettable novel about love, obsession and a mysterious painting. From Jessie Burton, the million-copy bestselling author of The Miniaturist. Spiegelman, Ian (29 August 2014). "Jessie Burton on the dollhouse that inspired her novel". USA Today . Retrieved 29 January 2015.

Quinn, Anthony (25 June 2016). "The Muse by Jessie Burton". The Guardian. London . Retrieved 29 June 2016.

I immensely enjoyed reading Odelle's story. Her voice, her thoughts, everything fit. She's curious, she has a lively mind and she knows that, considering that she's an immigrant and a woman she has to work harder than most people to achieve her goal: becoming a published writer. Odelle is the kind of girl I want to see in books: smart, curious, strong in a quiet but unmistakable way. Her side of the story was lovely and touching. Burton is also a non-fiction writer. Her essays have been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Independent, Vogue, Elle, Red, Grazia, Lonely Planet Traveller and The Spectator. [3] Early life and career [ edit ] I really liked Olive's story too, but I didn't like Olive as much as I wanted. Which is also the main reason why I preferred The Miniaturist to The Muse, even though I really liked the latter. I appreciated that Olive was a strong woman herself and that she wanted to prove something, but she came across as a bit naive and sometimes as someone who was too self-centered. I completely understood her need to be seen, but she didn't think about the consequences of her actions most of the time, and that definitely irked me. Is there ever such a thing as a whole story, or an artist's triumph, a right way to look through the glass? It all depends on where the light falls.”

The Sydney Morning Herald

As it turned out it just took way too long to flesh out details and as the story progresses and connections are made between the two characters and times, it felt a bit like a soap opera. 3 stars which for me means that I liked it but didn't find it to be one that will be memorable.