On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her splendid new home is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, and leaves Nella alone with his sister, the fearsome Marin.

Nellas life unexpectedly changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish it, she engages the services of a miniaturistan elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie ways.

Johanness gift helps Nella pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understandand fearthe escalating dangers around them. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction?