娃娃屋 (2014)

《娃娃屋》（英语：The Miniaturist）是洁西·波顿创作的悬疑小说，2017年改编为BBC影集

简介

17世纪的阿姆斯特丹，少女妮拉嫁进富商布兰特的家，豪门生活虽富裕，但丈夫热衷工作甚至无暇与妮拉同房，小姑、仆人个个冷漠古怪。妮拉替娃娃屋订做装饰打发时间，工匠送来的精巧配件却显示这栋大宅中藏着秘密。

The Miniaturist is the 2014 debut novel of English actor and author Jessie Burton. An international bestseller, it was the focus of a publishers' bidding war at the 2013 London Book Fair. Set in Amsterdam in 1686–87, the novel was inspired by Petronella Oortman's doll's house on display at the Rijksmuseum. It does not otherwise attempt to be a biographical novel. A sequel, The House of Fortune, was published in 2022.

Synopsis

It is 1686 in the Netherlands. Nella (Petronella) Oortman is eighteen, living in a small town. Her late father squandered the family's wealth and she makes an arranged marriage to Johannes Brandt, who is thirty-nine, a rich, respected Amsterdam merchant. The simple ceremony is in her home town, and Johannes returns to Amsterdam the same day; the marriage is not consummated.

A month later, as arranged, Nella goes to his house in Amsterdam to join him. He is not there when she arrives, but she meets the other members of the household. Marin is his severe, unmarried sister. Cornelia is the maid, a little older than Nella, more spirited than maids in the countryside. Otto, Johannes' servant and business assistant, aged about thirty, is, to Nella's astonishment, a black African. Johannes had bought Otto out of slavery when he was an adolescent.

Life becomes difficult for Nella, and there are things she does not understand: tension between Johannes and Marin; sounds of movement at night. It is a house where people listen outside doors and peep through keyholes. Nella spies in Marin's room, and finds an unsigned love-note sent to her. Johannes is usually out or abroad; he rejects Nella's caresses. But he gives her a marvellous present: a cabinet house, an eerie replica of the house they live in. She is given generous funds with which to buy more items for the house, and she orders some from a miniaturist. The order is delivered by Jack Philips, a beautiful young man from England, whom Johannes seems to know.

One day Nella, trying to get closer to her husband, makes a surprise visit to his office. She discovers him receiving oral sex from Jack. Marin admits that she knew of this and arranged the marriage because a wife protects them. The punishment for sodomy is death by drowning. Later, while Johannes is abroad, Jack delivers another packet from the miniaturist. In the fracas that ensues, he stabs one of Johannes' beloved dogs to death and, in a scuffle with Otto, is stabbed with his own dagger. Though the injury is not serious, Otto, afraid of the legal consequences, flees the country.

At present, Johannes is handling an important business affair, the sale of a large stock of sugar belonging to Frans and Agnes Meermans. As young men, Johannes and Frans were equals, working in the Treasury. Frans was in love with Marin, but his marriage proposal was rejected. This was Marin's free decision, but Frans believes that Johannes forbade the marriage. Johannes has now excelled him in status and wealth, and the sale is financially important to the Meermans. It is also important to Johannes whose wealth has, it seems, lessened, but it seems he is not giving it his full attention. The Meermans go the warehouse where their sugar is stored to check on it – and come across Johannes having sex with a man against the warehouse wall. The man is Jack; he claims he was forced to submit. Frans makes a report to the authorities. Johannes is arrested, tried, and sentenced to death.