The Brunswick
Historical Southern WWII Fiction Novel Book 1
Callie Murray
Revell Pub
May 2026
The Brunswick by Callie Murray is two stories in one, a family drama and a romance. Although this is a fictional story, it is based on true facts. The story intertwines the history of Norcross Georgia with a courageous Jewish husband and wife that rescued many Austrian children and brought them to safety in America.
“I think the risk of the children is kind of the premise. It’s the inspiration there. Vienna, where they confiscated property of Jews and the Jews had to pay taxes. The Jewish father, Otto, was taken away very early, like 1939 and put into a concentration camp or a prison camp. I talk about it in the author’s note at the end about some of the specifics. There was that story of the couple in Philadelphia. They have a memoir and a documentary. There was one family that inspired Charlotte and her parents. And yeah, the dad was taken in 1939, so before the war started, to Dachau, a political prison. Then, it wasn’t as we know a concentration camp, but it was not good and it was getting worse. And he was released, but then later the mom ended up going to a concentration camp and dying.”
The plot goes back and forth between what is happening in Norcross and what is happening in Austria. Cora Cain takes over for her father in running the Brunswick Hotel. Four years ago, burdened by loss and debt, Cora transformed the hotel into a general store and has been single-handedly running every aspect ever since. Then, Thomas Watkins arrives seeking work and solace after his mother’s death. After hiring him and working together a spark ignites between them. Through Thomas, Cora glimpses a life beyond obligation and her war hero father’s unpredictable moods.
“Cora is witty, strong, vulnerable, spirited, detached, distant, and really does not have the support of her father. And in that way, she’s resentful and defiant. She had these hand muscle twitches. It’s really a coming-of- age plotline where, yes, there’s her relationship with Thomas, but even more than that, it’s her wrestling with her own parents, and kind of some of those nuances as she tries to accept this love from Thomas.”
Family friends George and Evelyn Cohen are working with an organization to bring Austrian Jewish children to Norcross. They approach Cora with a proposal to house the Austrian refugee children in the hotel’s rooms. Cora agrees and prepares with Thomas for the children’s arrival.
The other plotline has ten-year-old Charlotte spending months sheltering from the Nazi regime in her aunt’s apartment. Her family is offered for her to be one of the children chosen to come to safety in America. But even with the horrors she sees around her, she wonders how her parents could possibly send her away.
“It was a who’s chosen and who was not chosen kind of attitude. I think in some ways there is that nuance of it. And I remember reading that in the true story, they talk about what a frightening place to be where you’re trying to pick who goes. And it kind of got it down to health. They wanted to make sure the kids were as healthy as possible. And then they’re looking for who is most likely to have their parents get visas and be able to come overseas. It was a role that Thomas especially struggled with. And, the struggle of the parents that had let their children go. What must be going on for parents to have to send their kids away with strangers across the ocean.”
This story has hope, resilience, and the power of love to prevail in the darkest of times. This includes the sacrifice families must make for their children’s safety.
