by Cathryn Conroy (Dublin, Ohio): It’s 1939 in Brussels, Belgium. Number 33 Place Brugmann is a lovely and stately Beaux Arts apartment building in which a variety of tenants live in a loosely-knit community of friends—from happy families to grieving widowers to bitter spinsters. And then World War II encroaches and changes everything about their well-ordered lives.
Some of the tenants are Jewish. Some are not. Each person—from child to adult—must decide what he or she will do to help—or not—when the time comes. Because the time is coming.
Each chapter is told in the first-person voice from the point of view of one of the residents, but the core of the novel is focused on Charlotte Sauvin, an art student, and her father Francois Sauvin, an architect. Charlotte’s mother died in childbirth, and while Francois has never remarried, two women in the apartment building step up as surrogate mothers to Charlotte. This talented artistic girl is completely colorblind, existing in a world of gray tones.
Other residents include:
• The Raphaël family, the parents Leo and Sophia and the teenage children Julian and Esther. Leo is dealer and collector of fine art, and as a Jew he knows he must quickly decide how best to save his family and the precious works of art hanging on his apartment walls. Julian and Charlotte have been best friends and almost inseparable since they were very young children. Julian, who is a mathematics genius, is in love with Charlotte, but does she feel the same way? One day the family disappears. All their belongings remain in the apartment except for the art, which is missing.
• Masha Balyayeva, who lives in a maid’s room on the top floor, is a talented seamstress. She transforms Sophia Raphaël’s wardrobe, and becomes a surrogate mother and beloved confidante to Charlotte.
• Agathe Hobert is a bitter and meanspirited spinster, who rarely smiles and thrives on gossip.
• Dirk Debaerre’s parents die when he is a young man. (No spoilers here as to their causes of death.) Dirk has lived in the building since he was a child, and the tenants all know him but don’t trust him. He has a tough exterior and a big secret he is hiding—one that could lead to his death.
• Colonel Warlemont is a grieving widower who finds a new purpose during the war.
And then someone new moves into the building, and most suspect he is a Nazi.
This is a novel about love, friendship, and redemption, as well as the courage each person must find when it’s least expected. The question they all face is whether to submit to the Nazis or risk their lives to fight them and save their friends. Who can be trusted?
With vivid characters, excellent writing, and an engaging and imaginative plot, this is an exceptional and profound historical novel. The ending is sad—very, very sad—but there is a measure of hope.
