Jessica Kathryn Burton (born 17 August 1982)Inside back cover of 2015

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullf ...

UK paperback edition of ''The Miniaturist'' is an English author and actress. , she has published four novels, ''

The Miniaturist ''The Miniaturist'' is the 2014 debut novel of English actor and author Jessie Burton. An international bestseller, it was the focus of a publishers' bidding war at the 2013 London Book Fair. Set in Amsterdam in 1686–87, the novel was inspired ...

'', ''The Muse'', ''The Confession'', ''The House of Fortune'' and two books for children, ''The Restless Girls'' and ''Medusa''. All four adult novels were ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' best-sellers, with ''The Miniaturist'', ''The Muse'' and ''The House of Fortune'' reaching no. 1, and both ''The Miniaturist'' and ''The Muse'' were ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' best-sellers, and Radio 4's '' Books at Bedtime''. Collectively her novels have been published in almost 40 languages. Her short stories have been published in ''Harpers Bazaar US'' and ''

Stylist Stylist can refer to: Occupations * Automotive stylist or car stylist, a person involved in designing the appearance and ergonomics of automobiles * Food stylist, a person who makes food look attractive in photographs * Hair stylist, a person w ...

.'' Burton is also a non-fiction writer. Her essays have been published in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'', ''Red'', ''

Grazia ''Grazia'' (; Italian for ''Grace'') is a weekly women's magazine that originated in Italy with international editions printed in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Colombia, France, Germany. Greece, Indonesia, I ...

'', ''Lonely Planet Traveller'' and ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

''.

Early life and career

Burton studied at

Lady Margaret School Lady Margaret School an all-girls' Church of England secondary school in Parsons Green, Fulham, London. It was awarded specialist school status (a government funding scheme defunct since 2010) as a Mathematics & Computing College in Septem ...

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

, and the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

. Burton's work in theatre includes ''

The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other ''The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other'' (german: Die Stunde, da wir nichts voneinander wußten) is a one-act play without words written by Peter Handke. The play has 450 characters and focuses on a day in the life of an unspecified town squa ...

'' at the National Theatre, London in 2008. As well as working as an author and actress, Burton has worked as a personal assistant in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

Writing career

Burton's 2014 debut novel ''

'' is set in 17th-century Amsterdam. The novel is inspired by

Petronella Oortman Petronella Oortman (; 1656–1716) was a Dutch woman whose elaborate dollhouse is part of the permanent collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Petronella Oortman should not be confused with her close namesake Petronella Oortmans-de la Cour ...

's dollhouse now at the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

, although it does not otherwise attempt to be a

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fiction ...

. ''The Miniaturist'' took over four years to write. It was the subject of a bidding war at the April 2013

London Book Fair The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and di ...

. It was adapted as a two-part miniseries for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and

PBS Masterpiece ''Masterpiece'' (formerly known as ''Masterpiece Theatre'') is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaimed Briti ...

in 2017. Burton's second novel, ''The Muse'', was published in 2016 and is set in a dual time-frame, during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

and 30 years later in 1960s London. It was nominated for the 2016

Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards The Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards are annual literary awards presented by the Booksellers Association in the UK and Ireland since 2016. They are sponsored by National Book Tokens. History and administration The awards were launched at the 2016 ...

. Burton's first novel for children, ''The Restless Girls'', was published in September 2018. The story is based on the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

tale, ''

The Twelve Dancing Princesses "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" (or "The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes" or "The Shoes that were Danced to Pieces") (german: Die zertanzten Schuhe) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' in 1815 ( ...

.'' Her third novel for adults, ''The Confession'', was published in 2019. ''Medusa'', her second book for children, was published in 2021. ''The House of Fortune'', a sequel to ''The Miniaturist'', was published in 2022.

Works

;Adult novels * ''

'' (Picador, 2014) * ''The Muse'' (Picador, 2016) * ''The Confession'' (Picador, 2019) * ''The House of Fortune'' (Picador, 2022) ;Children's books * ''The Restless Girls'' (Bloomsbury, 2018) * ''Medusa'' (Bloomsbury, 2021)

Awards and recognitions

* 2014

Waterstones Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized Wa ...

"Book of the Year" winner for ''The Miniaturist'' * 2014

Specsavers National Book Awards The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the National ...

: New Writer of the Year for ''The Miniaturist'' * 2014

: Book of the Year for ''The Miniaturist''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Jessie 1982 births Living people 21st-century English novelists English stage actresses English television actresses English radio actresses 21st-century English actresses English women novelists 21st-century English women writers Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Writers from London Actresses from London People educated at Lady Margaret School