Safekeep

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024

An exhilarating tale of twisted desire, histories and homes, and the unexpected shape of revenge - for readers of Patricia Highsmith, Sarah Waters and Ian McEwan's Atonement.

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

Eva is Isabel's antithesis: sleeps late, wakes late, walks loudly through the house and touches things she shouldn't. In response Isabel develops a fury-fuelled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house-a spoon, a knife, a bowl-Isabel' suspicions spiral out of control. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel's paranoia gives way to desire - 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.

'A razor-sharp, perfectly plotted debut novel' Sunday Times

'Moving, unnerving and deeply sexy' Tracy Chevalier, bestselling author of GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING

'An impressive debut; I already look forward to Van der Wouden's next' Guardian

Review: Surprising, chilling, and electric. The Safekeep is a simply fantastic work of literature. * Alice Winn, bestselling author of IN MEMORIAM *
The Safekeep is a dream of a novel - mesmerizing and shockingly good - it lulls you with the lyrical beauty of its words and then slams you awake with its raw passion and rage. Part silent scream, part breathless love story - I was utterly blown away. -- Miranda Cowley Heller, bestselling author of THE PAPER PALACE
Haunting and exquisitely poignant -- Claire Fuller
Moving, unnerving and deeply sexy -- Tracy Chevalier, author of GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
he story is resolved in such a bold and tender way that it becomes not merely clever, but indelible -- New York Times
An impressive debut; I already look forward to Van der Wouden's next * Guardian *
The Safekeep is a beautiful book, highly charged, tense, shocking and heartbreaking in equal measure....One of those rare books that feels as if it's been there all along, waiting to be given a voice. And what a voice this is. -- Rachel Joyce
[A] mesmerizing debut....A novel of redemption as much as revenge, The Safekeep has the pacing and twists of a thriller * Bookpage *
Tantalizing... fans of Patricia Highsmith and Ottesa Moshfegh's Eileen will find much to admire here. * Vulture *
An astonishingly skillful debut, The Safekeep manages the rare trick of being both gripping and intimate. A twisting, elegant, intriguing story about the secrets we hide in our homes and hearts - and how it only takes one person to unlock the past. -- Joanna Quinn, bestselling author of THE WHALEBONE THEATRE
Elevated from a beautifully written lesbian romance to a shocking unmasking of the legacy of the Holocaust, this book will move and grip you. * Times Summer Reads *
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. -- Starred Review, Kirkus
[A] remarkable debut novel * Observer *
This thrilling debut novel weaves together an intense lesbian love affair with the hidden legacy of the Second World War... a razor-sharp, perfectly plotted debut novel... This book is worth your time and your patience. Van der Wouden has achieved something significant in The Safekeep, unearthing deeply buried pain and transforming it into a thrilling story. * Sunday Times *
Set a classic long, hot summer plot against the backdrop of 1960s Netherlands and you end up with this classy piece of storytelling * Daily Mail Holiday Reading *
Van der Wouden has created a classic plot and executes it perfectly * Daily Mail *
[a] simmering, sexy work. * Parade *
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 * Wall Street Journal *
A strange, dream-like and troubling book, as haunting as the history it examines. Yael Van der Wouden is an extraordinarily powerful writer: it's hard to believe this can be her first book. -- Cressida Connolly, author of BAD RELATIONS and AFTER THE PARTY
A beautiful book. Incredibly well-observed, surprising, and deeply textured. -- Emma Healey, author of ELIZABETH IS MISSING
The Safekeep is thrilling: a riveting historical reconciliation and an impossible yet inevitable love story. Superbly wrought-serious, elegant, sexy, devastating. -- Julia May Jonas, author of VLADIMIR
This is a stealthy, simmering novel about complicity and the lies we live by -- Clare Pollard
I loved this engrossing, claustrophobic debut novel, the best I've read so far this year. You'll be hearing a lot more about this. -- Tom Rowley
This is an intimate novel, closely and brilliantly observed, with characters that while not likable are perhaps explainable...This is van der Wouten's first novel, and it's an accomplished debut * New York Journal of Books *
Perfectly plotted and deeply surprising. A truly poignant debut novel, it will stay with you long after you turn the last page * Service95 *
This spine-chilling debut has been getting a deserving amount of praise since its publication' * iNews - The 30 best books to read in summer 2024 *
[an] impressive debut novel * New Yorker *