The Miniaturist bestseller Jessie Burton recaptures the magic of childhood for her latest book, as Tina Jackson discovers

STAR INTERVIEW

Tina Jackson

CLICK HERE to watch Jessie Burton introduce The Restless Girls

Once upon a time there was a writer who transformed worlds of imagination into words on a page…

The novels of Jessie Burton, author of the global smash The Miniaturist and its bestselling follow-up The Muse, are transformation tales with their themes of female creativity, secrets and mystery and the steps leading to self-realisation and determination.

The Miniaturist was a life-changing debut for Jessie, who had been an actor and wrote it while she was working in office jobs. ‘I wrote The Miniaturist in secret, in office blocks. It felt like my last gasp – the acting hadn’t worked, and I was drowning a bit. I’d submitted part of a novel to an agent and he liked it, but I didn’t finish it. I wrote The Miniaturist with no expectation. I didn’t have anything to lose. I swapped my dream of making my living as an actor to the dream of making it as a writer. I was so used to being rejected as an actor that I just didn’t care. I thought, I’ve spent three years writing this. I’m not just going to stick it in a drawer.’

Jessie wrote The Miniaturist in secret, and secrets are a key theme in that book, and in The Muse. ‘Everyone’s got secrets in my books,’ she says. ‘Some secrets are benign and necessary. If we knew everything we’d all go insane.’

There could be no better choice of writer to retell a classic fairy tale for 21st century readers, which is just what Jessie has done in her first book for children, The Restless Girls – which also has a secret at its heart.

‘I chose The Twelve Dancing Princesses because it was my favourite, growing up – you know when you remember stories, not just in your mind, but in your body?’ We’re sitting in Jessie’s living room, decorated with mysterious and enticing pictures and objects, looking out at her garden, and although in reality we’re in South London, it feels as though we’re in a borderland between everyday life and a world of enchantment.

‘It always stuck with me, the beauty of the girls as they’re all dancing and wearing out their party shoes,’ continues Jessie. ‘And the secrecy of it. I never really thought about the socio-economical, sexual politics of the story, as you don’t, when you’re eight. So I wanted to relive the joy of them dancing. I used to do ballet. I’m not shy on the dancefloor, should you say…’