'The Miniaturist' Comes To Masterpiece

​​​​The Miniaturist, Masterpiece's newest series, is a feminist coming of age drama set in the 17th century, based on the international best-selling Jessie Burton novel.

This weekend, Masterpiece debuts part one of the three-hour miniseries The Miniaturist. The series aired on the BBC at Christmas of last year along with the adaptation of Little Women which aired over here in the spring. The series is an adaptation of Burton's 2014 debut novel, which focuses on the life of a young woman named Nella Oortman. Our story begins when 18-year-old Nella (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), who grew up in the Danish countryside in the mid-1600s, is forced into marriage for her family's well being. Her new husband, wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt (Alex Hassell), uproots her to the big city of Amsterdam and moves her in with his family, including his sister, Marin (Romola Garai), and her two housekeepers, Otto (Paapa Essiedu) and Cornelia (Hayley Squires).

But this is not just your run-of-the-mill period romance. From the moment Nella arrives in her new home, something is very wrong. Marin seems a little too resentful of Nella, Johannes seems a little too obsessed with his sister instead of his new wife, and someone knows what's going on, but isn't telling. Instead, they begin to communicate with Nella using her wedding present: a scale model dollhouse of her new home, which he furnishes with perfect scale miniatures of everyone, and everything, in it.