I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest feedback.

The Muse follows two different women in two different time periods. In London, 1967, Odelle Bastion gets a typewriting job in an art gallery that brings into the lives of a woman called Marjorie Quick and a mysterious painting. In Spain, 1937, Olive Schloss is settling in with her family and falling in love with a man called Isacc Robles who becomes her muse, and his sister Theresa her best friend. The lives of all these women become entwined and slowly Odelle figures it all out.

This was really enjoyable. Once again Burton has managed to write a sensual and moving story that seems to open up slowly, blossoms even like a flower, and it sucks you in and you just can't put it down. The book was slow-paced for me, but I enjoyed it, there wasn't a load of action but I was definitely intrigued in both Odelle's story as a black woman from Trinidad living in London and dating a white man and Olive, a young woman with an immense talent and choosing to show it to the world in an unconventional way. There some beautiful phrases and imagery in this book and the magic that I felt in The Miniaturist was definitely there.

"Something shivered over me, and my skin turned to gooseflesh, the way it does when someone tells you the truth and you hear it with your whole body."

"She had never felt so invisible, and yet so seen."

I thought Isaac's reaction to being Olive's muse was pretty amusing. Throughout history and within other novels, fiction and non-fiction, women have been the perpetual object of 'the muse' for other artists. And despite Isaac getting a whole load of benefits form Olive's talent, he couldn't quite get over not having all the power and I liked how Burton explored this.

I really loved, as I said, Odelle's own experiences as a black woman and some of the things she experienced when dating a white man. There wasn't an emphasis on the racism she experienced, but Burton placed it in now and again in a way that reminded the reader it would have been present for Odelle as a black woman in London in the 60s. It was done in a neat and impactful way, I also loved how Odelle was very much Ebglish, and talked about how she was more or less raised with English values and ideals in mind on a colonized island but then when she talked with Cynth, her accent would change to a Trinidadian accent and I loved it. It was so subtle, I only picked up on it halfway through but I loved it.

I think anyone who enjoyed the pacing and atmosphere of The Miniaturist would enjoy The Muse as well.