33 Place Brugmann

About the book

**The international bestseller**

An unforgettable historical debut set in Second World War Brussels: exploring love, resistance and courage in all their forms

'I adored it … It finds courage and love amidst the ruins, and I read with my heart in my mouth' Rachel Joyce

'Intimate and ambitious, lyrical and moving' Observer

'A beautiful and deeply engaging novel' Ann Patchett

'A richly textured, finely written, deeply thoughtful novel' William Boyd

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Charlotte Sauvin has always seen the world differently. At home on 33 Place Brugmann, in the heart of Brussels, her father and her closest friends and neighbours – the Raphaëls from the fourth floor, and Masha from the fifth – have ensured her secret is safe. But when the Nazis invade Belgium, and Masha and the Raphaëls disappear, Charlotte must navigate her new world alone.

Over the border and across the sea, in occupied Paris and battered Blitz London, Masha and the Raphaels are reinventing themselves – as refugees, nurses, soldiers, heroes. Though scattered far and wide, they dream of only one place, one home: 33 Place Brugmann.

But back at Place Brugmann, Charlotte feels impending danger closing in. Who can she trust in this world - where everyone is watching, and everyone is harbouring their own secrets? As the months pass, and the shadow of war darkens, Charlotte and her neighbours must face what – and who – truly matters to them most – and summon the courage to fight for more than just survival.

With soaring imagination and profound intimacy, 33 Place Brugmann is a captivating and devastating celebration of the power of love, courage and art in times of great threat.

Praise for this book:

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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