33 Place Brugmann - by Alice Austen (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Alice Austen uses her considerable gifts to remind us that the past and the present are more connected than we wish to believe, and that vigilance, loyalty and art hold the key to survival. This is a beautiful and deeply engaging novel." -- Ann Patchett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake

An outstanding debut novel--a love story, mystery, and philosophical puzzle, told in the singular voices of the residents of a Beaux Arts apartment house in Belgium during World War II.

On the eve of the Nazi occupation, in the heart of Brussels, life for the residents of 33 Place Brugmann is about to change forever.

Charlotte Sauvin, an art student raised by her beloved architect father in apartment 4L, knows all the details of the building and its people: how light falls on wood floors and voices echo off the marble staircase, the distinct knock of her dear friend, Julian Raphaël, the son of the art dealer's family across the hall. Then the Raphaëls disappear, leaving everything behind but their priceless art collection, which has simply vanished.

All else that's familiar fractures when whispers of German occupation become reality, and the lives of the residents grow increasingly intertwined. Charlotte's godmother Masha, a beautiful seamstress living upstairs, deepens her risky affair with a wartime compatriot of Colonel Warlemont in 3L--a man far more calculating than his neighbors believe. When a Nazi functionary with an interest in the Raphaëls moves into the building, knowing who can and cannot be trusted becomes a matter of life and death.

In the face of their perilous new reality, every member of this accidental community will discover they are not the person they believed themself to be. When confronted with a cruel choice--submit to the regime or risk their lives to save one another--each learns the truth about what, and who, matters to them the most.

A propulsive and exquisitely written tour de force, 33 Place Brugmann champions the restorative power of love, courage, and art in times of great threat.

Review Quotes

Praise for 33 Place Brugmann

National Bestseller

Shortlisted for the National Jewish Book Awards in Fiction

Women's National Book Association Great Group Reads Pick of the Year

Finalist for the Audie Award for Literary Fiction

"Richly imagined new historical fiction...[a] stellar release...An apartment building in World War II-era Brussels gives Austen's 33 PLACE BRUGMANN its title, but the activities of its residents take the novel's action as far as the Outer Hebrides and the salons of Paris." --New York Times Book Review

"[An] elegant, absorbing tale." --New York Times Book Review, "9 New Books We Recommend This Week"

"As the threat of Nazi occupation looms over the residents of an apartment building in Brussels, the sudden disappearance of the Raphaëls, the Jewish family in 4R, sows distrust and fear among neighbors . . . Austen ably shifts viewpoints by chapter, allowing for multiple perspectives on characters whose stories weave together as they endure the war's progression."-- Washington Post, "10 Noteworthy Books for March"

"Astonishingly accomplished . . . Though the story contains its share of heartbreak, it's the most fun we've had reading about World War II in years." -- Marion Winik, Oprah Daily

"The title of Alice Austen's 33 Place Brugmann points us to the address of an apartment building in a prosperous Brussels neighborhood, a district full of Parisian-style mansions, quiet parks and elegant boutiques . . . The building and its community would stand as a model of bourgeois stability were it not for the time period: It is August 1939, and the outbreak of war is about to throw the country into chaos . . . Austen's nimble debut follows this group's fortunes through the Nazi invasion and occupation of Belgium . . . The elegant Brussels building becomes a poignant microcosm of wartime alliances and betrayals." -- Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

"Through an arresting symphony of the residents' voices, debut novelist Austen carves a special place in the much-surveyed landscape of Holocaust fiction, especially in her homage to the importance of art. Equally remarkable is her ability to bestow attention on each of the many characters while still driving the plot forward . . . In a powerfully well-written novel, the most chilling thought is subtly said, 'What is thinkable is also possible.'" -- Poornima Apt, Booklist (starred review)

"An impressive display of Austen's storytelling skill . . . unfurling an unusually colorful and intelligent, poignant and rich World War II novel, a special treat for the many fans of that genre . . . As the novel rotates among its plethora of first-person narrators, each with a distinctive voice, from the wry and cultured Sauvin to the horrible busybody Miss Hobert in 3R, the issue of how to live in terrible times is explored with insight, compassion and steeliness . . . Crème de la WWII novel." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Kaleidoscopic . . . Both epic in scope and intimate." -- Publishers Weekly

"Engrossing . . . With eloquent and tense wartime suspense, the novel 33 Place Brugmann is an intricate character study about individuality and communal connection." -- Meg Nola, Foreword Reviews

"For all the trials these characters endure, the novel celebrates human resilience, the capacity for life-affirming action despite death's shadow being cast on every home, even the 'fortress' of 33 Place Brugmann. Some residents scurry for safety, but others, following Charlotte's example, learn the beauty of risking oneself to protect others. Readers who enjoyed Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow will find a similar sensibility at work here: an accidental crew of misfits, thrown together by the horrors of war, finding a camaraderie that makes life worth protecting." -- Sean Kinch, Chapter 16

"A vivid portrait of the world during WWII . . . Quite an accomplishment--full of pathos, suspense, and drenched in humanity." -- The Center for Fiction

"Alice Austen's debut novel is a small jewel . . . filled with intelligent observations, philosophical musings, ongoing mysteries, and stirrings of romance. [A] compassionate look at a group of people trapped by circumstance."--AudioFile, Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

"Poignant and stirring . . . an accomplished and artful debut that couldn't be more timely."--Toronto Star

"The world of 33 Place Brugmann is spacious and intricately connected, filled with both horror and brilliant light. Alice Austen uses her considerable gifts to remind us that the past and the present are more connected than we wish to believe, and that vigilance, loyalty and art hold the key to survival. This is a beautiful and deeply engaging novel." -- Ann Patchett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake

"33 Place Brugmann is set in the turmoil of the Nazi occupation of Belgium. Austen's device of using one apartment building, its memorable tenants, and their individual transformations is brilliant. A compelling and beautiful read." -- Abraham Verghese, New York Times bestselling author of The Covenant of Water

"In 33 Place Brugmann, a seemingly ordinary apartment building in the heart of Brussels becomes a microcosm of a world on the brink of war. Through multiple perspectives, Alice Austen weaves an extraordinary tapestry of lives intertwined by fate, fear, and resilience as Europe teeters on the edge of chaos in 1939. Offering a fresh perspective on a much-written-about era, this profoundly moving novel demonstrates the power of storytelling to illuminate the darkest corners of history." -- Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

"A richly textured, finely written, deeply thoughtful novel that resonates in the mind. A hugely impressive debut." -- William Boyd, author of Gabriel's Moon

"33 Place Brugmann is an achingly suspenseful historical novel, sad at moments, but always intriguing, with a complex cast of vivid and involving characters. Wonderful reading." -- Scott Turow, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Presumed Innocent and Presumed Guilty

"In 33 Place Brugmann, Alice Austen conjures war-tested, occupied Brussels with uncanny potency and precision. This is historical fiction at its immersive, absorbing best. A riveting and original debut from a writer to watch." -- Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife

"33 Place Brugmann is a riveting portrait of community during a time when the very notion of community was under siege. A master of time and place, Austen has a historian's grasp of detail and a storyteller's command of suspense. This is a beautiful and important novel." -- Jessica Shattuck, New York Times bestselling author of The Women in the Castle and Last House

"A work of art--stylish, charming and magnetic. There is a crisp immediacy in the writing so that the eve of a world war is now, here, close and not in the sepia colored past." -- Leila Aboulela, author of River Spirit, A New York Times Best Historical Fiction Book of the Year

"Delicate and devastating, disruptive and beautiful, 33 Place Brugmann follows the intertwined lives of the residents of one building in Brussels during Nazi occupation - both within their individual apartments, and also as they try to make their way in the rapidly changing and diminishing outside world. Not only am I filled with admiration for the skill and ambition of this book, I also adored it. It's a celebration of love, art and human decency when everything is reduced to the basics. It's bursting with ideas and imagery, it finds courage and love amidst the ruins, and I read with my heart in my mouth." -- Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

"In 33 Place Brugmann, Alice Austen is at ease with storytelling; the thoughts on art, music, mathematics, and architecture are awesome; the characters are marvelous--how not to love Charlotte and her father . . . What an achievement for a first novel. And the author manages to do something very different in a very written about period." -- Anik Lapointe, Salamandra (Spain)

"[A] remarkable novel--which has made me laugh, cry and think more than any other book I've read for a long time." -- Allegra Le Fanu, Bloomsbury (United Kingdom)

"A very bright and enthralling novel. I really loved that the author managed to draw such complex characters and the multilayered intrigue with many compelling topics. I was amazed by how she describes the conflictual relationship between the Flemish and the Walloon intertwined with all the spy intrigue that keeps you nervous until the end." -- Bénédicte Lombardo, Editions du Seuil (France)

"[33 Place Brugmann] is so very special, I love the voices, the composition, the wonderful idea, just everything about it, what a treasure! I can't stop reading!" -- Madlen Reimer, S. Fischer Verlag (Germany)

"I was transfixed from the onset and drawn into the lives of the protagonists, be it Charlotte, the Raphaels, Masha, all of them really; they all have their own voice, demons and histories to deal with and an uncertain future ahead of them . . . A beautiful novel."-- Renate Liesker, Ambo Anthos (Holland)

About the Author

Alice Austen won the John Cassavetes Award for her debut film Give Me Liberty (writer/producer). She is a past resident of the Royal Court Theatre and her internationally produced plays include Animal Farm (Steppenwolf Theatre), Water, Cherry Orchard Massacre, and Girls in the Boat (Dramatic Publishing). She studied creative writing under Seamus Heaney at Harvard, where she received her JD, after which she moved to Brussels and lived on Place Brugmann. Austen currently lives in Milwaukee and is working on a new film and her next novel.