The Miniaturist: A Novel, by Jessie Burton
This is the author's debut novel. I don't think it is a perfect book
but that will only add to the discussion! The novel takes
place in Amsterdam, in 1686, during the golden age of the city.
Summary: Engaging the services of a miniaturist to furnish a cabinet-sized replica of her hew home, Nella Oortman, the wife of a merchant in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, discovers that the artist's tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways.
Nella, newly married to an older dutch merchant with secrets, also shares her new home with her husband's unmarried sister, The Mrs. Danvers of Amsterdam. With this book, we would discuss gender, race,
religious and power issues.
by Tara Conklin.
With this book we have 2 stories set during slavery and the present.
We have dual narration, dual viewpoints. The story is told
in prose and the plot is also revealed through letters and art critiques.
Summary: Lina Sparrow, an artist's daughter, is an ambitious young lawyer working on a historic class-action lawsuit seeking reparations for the descendants of American slaves. 1852: Josephine, a seventeen-year-old slave, tends to the mistress of a Virginia tobacco farm - an aspiring artist named Lu Anne Bell. Lina's search to find a plaintiff for her case will introduce her to Josephine's story. Was she the real talent behind her mistress's now-famous portraits?
There is mystery and suspense in the story, along with romance,
psychology and philosophy. We would discuss slavery, reparations, freedom, relationships, loss and pain.
Next time we will look at Go Set a Watchman and a possible Ken Follett novel.
I am also looking at a 2012 Kate Morton novel, the latest Isabelle Allende novel and .........
Any suggestions???????