Eighteen-year-old Nella is the protagonist of The Miniaturist. A dynamic character, she evolves from naivete to maturity over the course of the novel. When Nella first arrives in Amsterdam, she is a sheltered country girl eager to become a woman. Her expectations of life are shaped by her mother’s guidance and societal gender expectations. Because Nella has been taught that women have nothing to offer society except their beauty, bodies, and ability to conceive, she hopes to find fulfillment through love, marriage, and motherhood. However, Nella’s idealistic dreams are dashed when she discovers her marriage will be sexless and her husband is in love with a young man. Her conviction that she is deprived of the opportunity “to live as a proper woman” (161) demonstrates how Nella fixates on romance and childbearing as essential ingredients of her future identity.

Ironically, the protagonist “comes of age” not, as she expects, by losing her virginity, but when she realizes that conventional marriage is “a waste” for some women. Nella gains agency and autonomy largely through her association with two strong, unconventional women: her sister-in-law and the miniaturist. She proves herself brave, intelligent, and resourceful through the catastrophic events that overtake her family.