Alice Austen is an American playwright, screenwriter and producer. She lived for some years in Brussels at 33 Place Brugmann, one of the most popular and exclusive districts in the city. There she got to know some of the older residents and this became the setting for her powerful first novel, an extraordinary book about secrets, betrayal and courage.
The characters are a fascinating mix. There’s a Jewish art dealer and his family, including his son Julian, who is studying with Wittgenstein at Cambridge; an architect and his daughter, Charlotte; a retired colonel; Miss Hobert, an elderly gossip, who used to run a café; an attorney and his wife and their strangely unpleasant son, Dirk; a notary and his wife. On the top floor lives Masha, a seamstress and a Jewish refugee with a heart of gold. Many of the residents are Jews and their lives are about to be turned upside down as the Second World War begins.
It is never clear who you can trust or whether her characters are what they seem. Which of the Jews will escape and who will survive?