33 Place Brugmann

An unforgettable historical debut set in Second World War Brussels: exploring love, resistance and courage in all their forms - and the magical and myriad ways we are connected to each other

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.

Review

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, author of Tom Lake

Intimate and ambitious, lyrical and moving ― Observer

A richly textured, finely written, deeply thoughtful novel that resonates in the mind. A hugely impressive debut -- William Boyd

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 I am 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 -- Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

An astonishingly accomplished debut ... Though the story contains its share of heartbreak, it's the most fun we've had reading about World War II in years ― Oprah Daily, The Best New Books to Read This Spring

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

Beautifully written with glittering, dreamlike prose ... Moving ― Spectator

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, 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 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

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

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

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, author of Last House and The Women in the Castle

The plot will sweep you away ― Today.com, Books we can't wait to read in 2025

Austen has composed a powerful historical novel, set just before and during the Nazi occupation. Beautifully written, the narrative stands as a great humanist statement ― Literary Review

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 ― Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Alice Austen is an award-winning screenwriter, producer, and playwright. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she co-founded the Harvard Human Rights Journal, and studied creative writing under Seamus Heaney. She was the first American to receive a fellowship to the European Court of Human Rights. She has been awarded a Royal Court Residency; and her work has been honoured with an Independent Spirit Award, a Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination and a Terrence McNally Award Premiere Five. Austen has two films going into production, one with Alfonso Cuaron, and the other with Steven Soderbergh. 33 Place Brugmann is her debut novel.