Jessie Burton has taken eight years to return to Amsterdam from her first book, the bestseller The House of Miniatures, a city that lives its golden age after the defeat of the Spanish in Flanders, the artistic and commercial boom and the ‘opening of new commercial routes that have made it the main port in Europe after Lisbon. In La casa de la fortuna, its sequel, several decades have passed, and the lives of the protagonists have taken many turns.
“Even though the historical framework is what it is, the Amsterdam of the early 18th century, when the Spanish left for good half a century ago, this is not a history lesson, and I didn’t have to go a lot in the city to look for scenarios and contexts (the pandemic would have made it almost impossible) – explains Burton, who will turn 42 in August. I found all the material I needed in the archives and on the internet.”
In The House of Miniatures everything revolves around Nella, an innocent girl who at the age of 18 moves from the countryside to a mansion on the Herengracht, one of the canals of the Dutch city, to live with her husband, Johannes, a man older than her In La casa de la fortuna, the years have passed, she has become a widow and acts as a surrogate mother to Thea, her niece, the daughter of a black servant and her husband’s sister, who died in childbirth.
Money is no longer abundant, they have had to sell even the crockery and the only solution is to marry Thea to a rich man, but she is an idealistic young woman and is in love with a stage painter with whom she dreams of get married someday Classic dilemma. “Nella has become older (38 years old), less romantic, life has burned her -says Burton-. His only concern is to survive, at any cost. She had to pay him, and she hopes that her niece will do the same, for the sake of all.”
Writing is not easy for Burton, a perfectionist who threw several drafts and 300,000 words in the trash before she hit it off with the definitive version of her latest novel. “I wouldn’t necessarily define it as a pleasant experience, despite the romanticism that surrounds the profession, some days are easier for me, and others, more difficult. Developing a character is like meeting someone for the first time, you don’t fully control their growth and development, in that sense it’s like children. The reader is needed to close the circle”.
When he gave birth to La casa de les miniatures there was not the same sensitivity as there is now with issues such as racism, cultural appropriation and colonialism, “very present in 17th and 18th century Amsterdam, and an element which has put a new focus on the story of the new novel”. But the epicenter is the relationship between Nella, who has discovered pragmatism, and Thea, innocent, excited, in love, naive, curious, adventurous, fearless, in a way a mirror of who she was when she arrived newly married in Herengracht.
The author herself has grown up with her characters, and now that she is a mother she sees things from a different perspective that has helped her evolve her protagonist. It has cost him the fame that the first book gave him, and that almost caused him depression. He protects his privacy, has a very limited presence on social networks and does not disclose the name of either his partner or his child. “Taking care of Nella – he says – has been a therapeutic experience, a form of exorcism”. Will there be a third part of the saga? It is an open question. He would also like to throw himself into the world of fantasy and children’s literature, the theater, magical realism, “responding to everything I carry inside”. In any case, she feels lucky and privileged, and success no longer scares her.
