ISBN: 9780140297997

Synopsis The real life story of Jacques Austerlitz who, at the age of 5, came to London on one of the so-called kinder-transports in the summer of 1939. Austerlitz is placed with foster parents in wales, a childless couple who, for reasons of their own, erase in the boy all knowledge of his identity. Though he does, later on as an adult, have intimations of his otherness, Austerlitz, whose profession is that of an architectural historian, goes through life assiduously avoiding all clues that might point to his origins and to the fate of his true parents. It is only in his retirement that the past returns to haunt him and makes him explore what happened to him half a century previously, taking him back on a journey into the heart of Europe on the edge of war. The main locations of the book are Wales, London, Prague, and various places in Belgium and Paris.

Bookclub Review We all sympathised with the main character because he was a product of a traumatic youth. It was fascinating how Austerlitz goes about creating a mental map of his world which seemed to be ruled by architectural phenomena described meticulously. In the end we agreed that the book is a monumental work of art writen by an outstanding author who shows a profound knowledge of an immense feeling for architecture and recent history.