Portrait of author Jessie Burton
(Picture: Matt Writtle / Evening Standard )Jessie Burton’s origin story is the stuff of literary folklore. A debut novel, written on-the-fly, becomes the subject of a multiway bidding war. It earns the author a reported six figure advance — and goes on to sell 2m copies worldwide. A TV adaptation is optioned (and comes to fruition three years later). It transforms the author — who had spent her 20s trying to break into the world of acting (but found herself mainly doing PA and temp work) — into an international literary sensation by the age of 31. “For years afterwards though I couldn’t bring myself to even open The Miniaturist,” says Burton, over tea in the Library room at Batty Langley’s in Shoreditch.
The problem with massive success is the massive pressure that comes with it. It wasn’t just the 200 speaking engagements in 18 months or the fact that Martin Scorsese downloaded The Miniaturist to his Kindle, it was the overwhelming sense of instability which came with such rapid fame.
