The Safekeep

* SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 BOOKER PRIZE *

Longlisted for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize • A Best Book of 2024: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Kirkus Reviews, BookPage, The Sunday Times (London)

“Remarkable…Compelling…Fine and taut…Indelible.” —The New York Times • “Moving, unnerving, and deeply sexy.” —Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with the Pearl Earring • “A brilliant debut, as multi-faceted as a gem.” —Kirkus Reviews

A “razor-sharp, perfectly plotted” (The Sunday Times, London) tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961—a powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.

A house is a precious thing...

It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be—led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season.

Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house—a spoon, a knife, a bowl—Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation, leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva—nor the house in which they live—are what they seem.

Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is “a brave and thrilling debut about facing up to the truth of history, and to one’s own desires” (The Guardian).

Yael van der Wouden is a writer and a teacher. The Safekeep, her debut novel, was a finalist for the 2024 Booker Prize and has been longlisted for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize. It was also named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a best book of the year by The Washington Post, Time, The Economist, Kirkus Reviews, The Times (London), The Independent, BookPage, and others. She lives in Utrecht, Netherlands.

 

ISBN: 9781668034347
Format: Hardback
Pages: 272
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Published: May 28, 2024

“It is the only book I have read this year that has made me cry. . . . Van der Wouden has produced the rare novel about World War II, the Holocaust, and their aftermath that succeeds in feeling fully, intimately human. . . . [The plot] twist is not what makes The Safekeep remarkable; what does is the extraordinary, emotional story Van der Wouden crafts around it, and the pitch-perfect voice she brings to the characters who experience its consequences.” —Talya Zax, The Washington Post

“Quietly remarkable. . . . Van der Wouden’s writing is fine and taut. She lasers in on details, and presents unsentimental and intrinsically powerful metaphors. . . . I would have liked this book in any case, just for the pleasure of reading it. But the story is resolved in such a bold and tender way that it becomes not merely clever, but indelible.” —Lori Soderlind, The New York Times Book Review

"A brave and thrilling debut about facing up to the truth of history, and to one’s own desires. . . . The tightly controlled narrative breaks open into a tale of erotic awakening, followed by an almighty twist. Anticipating that twist will not lessen its impact—fittingly enough for a novel in which everyone knows more than they can bear to admit. van der Wouden brings stunning power and control to her page-turner about trauma and repression." —The Guardian

"A razor-sharp, perfectly plotted debut novel. . . . This book is worth your time and your patience." —Sunday Times

"A compelling and atmospheric story of obsession and secrets. A novel that explores the things that are kept from us as children and the things we tell ourselves about our own hidden desires." —The Booker Prize Judges' citation

"An absolutely stunning novel. . . . The writing is completely beautiful; the plot is brilliant. . . . What seems as a quiet story at the beginning reaches a turning point. . . . Everything is up for grabs. . . . A page-turner.” —WAMC

"By turns erotic, heartbreaking, and incandescent in its outrage on behalf of the invisible victims of a cataclysm that reverberated for decades after the peace treaties were signed, The Safekeep packs an emotional wallop that is matched by its moral urgency.” —TIME, “100 Must-Read Books of the Year"

“A brilliantly executed twist elevates this love story into something much darker.” —The Times (UK), “The Best 12 Books of the Year"

“A beautifully realized book, nearly perfect, as van der Wouden quietly explores the intricate nuances of resentment-hued sibling dynamics, the discovery of desire (and the simultaneous discovery of self), queer relationships at a time when they went unspoken, and the legacy of war and what it might mean to have been complicit in its horrors. . . . A brilliant debut, as multifaceted as a gem.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Ms. van der Wouden knows how to wring real emotion from her readers, and The Safekeep is the uncommon book that one experiences in an almost physical way.” —Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

"This is an intimate novel, closely and brilliantly observed. . . . An accomplished debut." —New York Journal of Books

"[A] simmering, sexy work." —Parade

"An accomplished debut. . . . van der Wouden’s sensuous writing and flair for drama make this a winner.” —Publishers Weekly

“Fans of Patricia Highsmith and Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen will find much to admire here. Recommended for reading outdoors while eating a ripe pear.” —New York Magazine