Burton to publish The Miniaturist sequel with Picador

Jessie Burton’s sequel to her bestseller The Miniaturist will be published as a super-lead title by Picador in July 2022.

UK and Commonwealth rights for The House of Fortune were acquired by Picador in a previous two-book deal while Dutch, Finnish, French and Swedish rights have already been snapped up from Juliet Mushens at Mushens Entertainment.

Set 18 years after the events of The Miniaturist, The House of Fortune begins on Thea Brandt’s 18th birthday, and she is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms. The synopsis explains: “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...”

Burton's The Miniaturist sold more than a million copies worldwide in its first year on sale according to Picador and, in 2017, was adapted into a major TV series for BBC One. Through Nielsen BookScan in the UK it has sold just over 573,000 units in all formats for £3.7m. It was the UK overall number one for the entire month of January in 2015. Her novels have been translated into 40 languages, and she is a regular essay writer for newspapers and magazines.

Sophie Jonathan, editorial director at Picador, said: “Stepping back into Jessie’s Amsterdam with these beloved characters is the most wonderful experience and I can’t wait for readers to be reunited with Nella and Otto and Cornelia, and to meet Thea — this young woman of extraordinary determination and spirit. The House of Fortune is utterly captivating and impossible to put down. It’s been seven years since we last tried to untangle the mystery of the miniaturist, and I for one am thrilled she is back.”

Burton commented: “If The Miniaturist changed my life, then The House of Fortune is the happy reckoning. 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.”

Mushens added: “The House of Fortune is everything I want from historical fiction: sumptuous settings, well-realised characters, and a fascinating time period. But it is a particular joy to be reunited with characters who are so beloved. Jessie is a master of her craft and I know readers are going to inhale the novel, just as I did.”