Jonathan Lee, in his first acquisition as editorial director at Bloomsbury, pre-empted North American rights to Jessie Burton’s historical novel, The House of Fortune. Burton was represented by Jenny Bent at the Bent Agency, who brokered the deal with Lee on behalf of London-based agent Juliet Mushens at Mushens Entertainment. Fortune, which Bloomsbury said “will appeal equally to fans of Hilary Mantel and Susanna Clarke,” is slated for 2022.

Bloomsbury is calling the novel a “standalone companion” to Burton’s 2014 bestseller The Miniaturist (Ecco), which was adapted into a miniseries by the BBC and has sold over two million copies worldwide. Fortune shares a setting (17th-century Amsterdam) and characters with its predecessor, following, Bloomsbury said, “what happens to Thea Brandt and her family 18 years later.” Thea is the niece of the heroine from the first novel, Nella, who, at 18, is sent from her small village to marry Johannes Brandt.

Thea Brandt is turning eighteen, and is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms. At the theatre, Walter, the love of her life, awaits her, but at home in the house on the Herengracht, winter has set in - her father Otto and Aunt Nella argue endlessly, and the Brandt family are selling their furniture in order to eat. On Thea's birthday, also the day that her mother Marin died, the secrets from the past begin to overwhelm the present.

Nella is desperate to save the family and maintain appearances, to find Thea a husband who will guarantee her future, and when they receive an invitation to Amsterdam's most exclusive ball, she is overjoyed - perhaps this will set their fortunes straight. And indeed, the ball does set things spinning: new figures enter their life, promising new futures. But their fates are still unclear, and when Nella feels a strange prickling sensation on the back of her neck, she wonders if the miniaturist has returned for her…

The House of Fortune is available to pre-order from Waterstones in the UK.