Jessie Burton is the author of The Miniaturist: A Novel, The Muse: A Novel, and The Confession, and is both a Sunday Times No. 1 and New York Times bestselling author. Her first children’s story, The Restless Girls, was published in 2018. Set in Amsterdam in 1705, The House Fortune: A Novel (Bloomsbury Publishing) introduces us to Thea Brandt. She is coming of age, trying to grapple with her family’s secrets and her identity as a young Dutch African woman. She’s drawn to the theater and an artistic life, but her family is in serious financial decline. Thea’s mother died in labor, but her family refuses to share the details of the story with her. Aunt Nella believes the solution to Thea’s problems is to find her a husband, and an unexpected invitation to Amsterdam’s most exclusive ball seems like a golden opportunity. But someone out there has another fate in mind for the family – and perhaps the new beginning Thea seeks won’t depend on a man. The House of Fortune is a novel about love and obsession, family and loyalty, and the fantastic power of secrets.