Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Paris Architect

By: Charles Belfoure
Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $18.00

Buy for $18.00

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Like most gentiles in Nazi-occupied Paris, architect Lucien Bernard has little empathy for the Jews. So when a wealthy industrialist offers him a large sum of money to devise secret hiding places for Jews, Lucien struggles with the choice of risking his life for a cause he doesn't really believe in. Ultimately he can't resist the challenge and begins designing expertly concealed hiding spaces - behind a painting, within a column, or inside a drainpipe - detecting possibilities invisible to the average eye. But when one of his clever hiding spaces fails horribly and the immense suffering of Jews becomes incredibly personal, he can no longer deny reality.

Written by an expert whose knowledge imbues every word, this story becomes more gripping with every life the architect tries to save.

©2013 Charles Belfoure (P)2013 Random House Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"Words like 'riveting' and 'compelling' aren't strong enough to describe this remarkable novel narrated by Mark Bramhall and set in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1942." (AudioFile Magazine)

"A beautiful and elegant account of an ordinary man's unexpected and reluctant descent into heroism during the second world war." (Malcolm Gladwell)

"Belfoure writes like an up-and-coming Ken Follett... There's plenty of detail to interest architecture buffs, too." (Booklist)

What listeners say about The Paris Architect

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,546
  • 4 Stars
    1,204
  • 3 Stars
    281
  • 2 Stars
    60
  • 1 Stars
    35
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,639
  • 4 Stars
    790
  • 3 Stars
    169
  • 2 Stars
    22
  • 1 Stars
    16
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,180
  • 4 Stars
    1,077
  • 3 Stars
    267
  • 2 Stars
    69
  • 1 Stars
    28

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Paris with a twist

I really enjoyed this book. I have listened to several audio books and read many more about Paris during the Occupation, but this is the best in a long time. Being a lover of architecture, I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of beautiful apartments and decorative details.

This book is loaded with details about the French spirit and also their fear of being thought of as collaborators. And it also showed how far the Nazis would go to find Jews hidden within collaborators homes.

It is well worth the read. And the narration is excellent.
Enjoy!


Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good Read

I read a lot of WWII novels and I enjoyed this one cry much. It was a unique storyline and I liked the characters. I would recommend it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved it

this book was great. simple and wonderful! I really enjoyed the character development and performance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Would Make a Great Movie

Great piece of historical fiction. Compelling, insightful, and easy to tell who was speaking in dialog, thanks to Bramhall's German and French accents. Would love to see this in film.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Surprisingly good

I thought the book was really good. Took awhile to get into it and there are some really dry spots but overall it was quite good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What An Adventure!

Wonderful, and different treatment of the Nazi occupation of Paris. Great and memorable characters. Could not stop listening. Narrator was just perfect.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

a haunting tale -- I couldn't put it down

This was a masterfully written book! heartbreaking, at times horrifying, but also triumphant. The narrator is also excellent! he's so good at the accents.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Exceeded expectations!

I was hesitant on getting this originally because it's not my usual genre and I thought the summary kind of gave the book away a bit so I felt like I knew what was going to happen. However, within a few chapters I was hooked. The narration is phenomenal and the story itself was very well done. It kept me interested by figuring out how the characters mingled throughout the chapters and loved when their storyline overlapped. Overall it was a very good "read".

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Absolutely loved this

I usually prefer nonfiction when it comes to war tales like Erik Larson but this was very well done. A few of the sex scenes and vulgar language could have been done without but that’s on the author. This narrator was amazing as well. Definitely recommend!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping

I do gravitate toward the WWII genre, but this book was particularly suspenseful. Couldn't stop listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!