Jessie Burton Books In Order

Publication Order of The Miniaturist Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Jessie Burton

Jessie Burton hasn’t been entirely comfortable with the fame and fortune her meteoric rise to stardom has brought her.

Ms. Burton, the author of “The Miniaturist”, which, after an 11-publisher auction for the the rights to bring the book to print, rocketed to the top of the publishing world’s charts. Her first novel has been sold in 34 countries around the world with a multitude of over 40 translations.

This astonishing successful first novel has been both a New York Times and a Sunday Times bestseller, sold over a million copies its first year of publication, and was Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime story. It was also given the National Book Awards Book of the Year and Waterstones Book of the Year 2014. The culmination of success for her first novel was when it was adapted as a BBC One miniseries in 2017.

The Miniaturist, set in 17th-century Amsterdam has had giant success. Ms. Burton did over 200 book promotion events in the space of 18 months. She counted!

She wrote part of The Miniaturist on her little phone screen, on the commuter train to her temporary job. This story tells about a teen bride, a young lady of just 18, who marries an older, wealthy man who presents her with an elaborate doll house. A craftsman, residing in 17th century Amsterdam, creates miniatures for the little house for the young bride. The young woman develops a relationship with him.

Ms. Burton has had a difficult time walking the golden road of success and fame. Such a swirl of activity can leave one amazed and confused at the same time. When Martin Scorsese is downloading it to his Kindle and a Spice Girl is tweeting her love for Ms. Burton’s first novel, it can make a girl’s head swim.

Not uncommonly, Ms. Burton began to feel insecure and depressed. She knew if she were to express it out loud the ordeal of her success would unlikely garner much sympathy but she bravely shared her experiences in blogposts.

At the same time she was working on her second novel. Writing a new work on the heels of a stratospheric work such as her first novel, the pressure for the second to be as equal or better, can be crushing. The history of “one hit wonders” in varied creative fields is a testament to the challenge.

The Editorial Director of Picador and Burton’s UK, editor Sophie Jonathan, says about Ms. Burton, that she conjures a world more vividly than any other writer. Her interest in texture and color, like her little home, shows in her writing.

Her masterful sequel of The House of Fortune shows a writer “who’s at the height of her powers.” Her novels are filled with expressive, tactile descriptions of the decor and clothing, trinkets and wallpaper, and jewelry and ceramic dishes.

Ms. Burton expresses her surprise- having a fairly low-level career on one day and then her face and her work up on billboards the next is pretty heady and can do weird things to your brain and brings up old fears and pains.

Jessica Kathryn Burton grew up in Wimbledon. Her father, an architect who chose to be a ceramic restorer and her mother, a teacher, had just the one child.

They sent her to Lady Margaret in Fulham, an all-girls Church of England school. That’s where Ms. Burton got the bug to become an actor. She snagged some jobs performing in television dramas which fueled her acting career dreams.

Ms. Burton studied English and Spanish at Oxford and then drama at the Central School of Speech and Drama at Oxford University. She appeared in their productions of Othello, Play, and Macbeth. She did want to be an actor but wasn’t very successful. For many years she harbored an old hidden ambition to write. Finally she decided to act on it.

Ms. Burton wrote non-fiction essays and reviews for Vogue, Elle, Red, and The Wall Street Journal. She also had some short stories published in Harpers Bazaar US and Stylist magazines.

She lives with her young son in what she describes as her “burrow” in Forest Hill, southeast of London. Her flat is full of color and is particularly tidy, especially with a little boy about.

She’s very proud of her “she shed”, a cozy little building at the end of the garden. It’s a treat she was able to build due the success of her first novel. And it has allowed her to produce several more novels.

Her second novel, The Muse, is set in southern Spain in the 1930’s. Ms. Burton has been wanting to write about the challenges and dilemmas facing women in the situations of ladies who are in their mid-30’s. She is inspired by what she and her friend have gone through. It’s “a love letter” to her friends. Their support has been so valuable to her as she has risen to spectacular fame and while she works at becoming comfortable with it and the byproduct the whole thing.