The tiny creations she receives are not only exquisite, they bear an uncanny resemblance to their real-life counterparts, suggesting that the miniaturist knows every detail not only of the house itself but the secrets of its occupants. However, her curiosity piqued by an advertisement, she commissions a miniaturist to create a few small items to furnish the house. Lonely and unoccupied, Nella is at first angered by her husband's extravagant wedding gift, a perfect facsimile of her new home in miniature, which she regards as a cruel joke, a mockery of her powerlessness in the household. Even the outspoken servants confound Nella's provincial expectations. Hopeful of love, Nella is soon disappointed: Brandt is indifferent to her, his domineering sister terse and disdainful. I n 1686 18-year-old Nella Oortman, a country girl of good birth but straitened circumstances, is married to Johannes Brandt, a wealthy merchant trader twice her age, and dispatched to his luxurious house in Amsterdam.
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