The SAFEKEEP is a tale of twisted desire, histories and homes, and the unexpected shape of revenge.

https://yaelvanderwouden.com/the-safekeep-2024

Book blurb

It is fifteen years after the Second World War, and Isabel has built herself a solitary life of discipline and strict routine in her late mother’s country home, with not a fork or a word out of place. 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…

In the sweltering heat of summer, Isabel’s desperate need for control reaches boiling point. What happens between the two women leads to a revelation which threatens to unravel all she has ever known.

My thoughts

Isabel lives in the family home. Both her parents have died and her two brothers have left home. Her uncle, who bought the house, has named her brother Louis to receive the house when he dies. So when Louis brings his girlfriend, Eva, to stay with Isabel whilst he is away working she feels unable to refuse.

During the weeks that follow the relationship between the two women is a tense and at first a difficult one. Isabel is used to her own company and counsel but Eva’s arrival has made Isabel feel that she has to consider her future. Will she have to leave her home one day soon and if so, what will happen? She has an admirer but she never seems willing or comfortable in pursuing him even though Hendrik, her other brother, tells her it will be fine. It becomes clear that Isabel needs to understand what she wants for her the future.

As these two women spend more and more of their time together, as Eva questions Isabel’s life and choices the tension becomes palpable. Isabel is overwhelmed by her own response.

The book is set in 1961 so the ‘sexual revolution’ is about to begin but in the setting of this story we are very much still in an era of postwar attitudes and social expectations that gives Isabel little choice but to accept that she will have to marry. Still Isabel comes to realise she has a choice, what will she choose?

Eva is the antithesis of Isabel. She sleeps late, chats with Neelke (the woman Isabel employs to help in the house) as if she weren’t a servant, brings chaos and disorder to Isabel’s home and life. Why has she come to Isabel’s home?

As the story unfolds we learn what brought Eva to Isabel’s home, why items were stolen from the house and what takes place when Louis is expected to return. We also learn about what took place in the Netherlands when, having survived the war, the camps Jewish families returned to reclaim their homes. Something I had not heard before and found truly shocking.

The story of how and why Eva came to be in Isabel’s home is astonishing, heartbreaking and tragic. What Isabel does when she comes to know this is perhaps something we should all endeavour to do. Her act of contrition enables Eva to move forward. What Eva then does demonstrates that, whilst it may not be easy, perhaps love can lessen if not overcome the pain of losing and maybe there is something sweeter than revenge.

I thought this was a powerful, moving, beautifully written book and simply put is one of the best books I’ve read in 2025.

Book: Purchased

The Booker Prize Reading Guide to The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden.

The Dylan Thomas Prize 2025

Worth £20,000, this global accolade recognises exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under, celebrating the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama. The prize is named after the Swansea-born writer Dylan Thomas and celebrates his 39 years of creativity and productivity. The prize invokes his memory to support the writers of today, nurture the talents of tomorrow, and celebrate international literary excellence.

Comprising four novels, alongside a short story collection and poetry collection, the shortlist is:

• Rapture’s Road by Seán Hewitt (Jonathon Cape, Vintage, Penguin Random House) – poetry collection (UK/Ireland)
• Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon (Fig Tree, Penguin Random House) – novel (Ireland)
• The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Viking, Penguin Random House UK) – novel (The Netherlands)
• I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson (Faber & Faber) – novel (UK)
• Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good by Eley Williams (4^th Estate) – short story collection (UK)
• The Coin by Yasmin Zaher (Footnote Press) – novel (Palestine)

The British Library will host a shortlist celebratory event on Wednesday 14 May (International Dylan Thomas Day) with the winner announced during a ceremony in Swansea on Thursday 15 May.

Tickets for the British Library event can be purchased online at Events.BL.UK

Source: Swansea University – Dylan Thomas Shortlist 2025

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Information

Published: Viking, Penguin Random House UK | 272 pp | ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241999776 |

Buy: Penguin (U.K.) | Simon & Schuster (USA links) | AmazonSmileUK | Hive | Bookshop.org (affiliate link) | Your local library | Your local bookshop

THE SAFEKEEP was published in 2024 with Avid Reader (US) & Viking (UK) & UITGEVERIJ CHAOS (NL)

Author: Yael van der Wouden was born in 1987 and lives and works in The Netherlands. The Safekeep, her debut novel, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024. It has been shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2025, the Women’s Prize 2025 and the Walter Scott Prize 2025, and longlisted for the Wingate Prize 2025. She lectures in creative writing and comparative literature in the Netherlands. Her essay on Dutch identity and Jewishness, “On (Not) Reading Anne Frank”, has received a notable mention in The Best American Essays 2018. The Safekeep is her debut novel and was acquired in hotly-contested nine-way auctions in both the UK and the US. Rights have sold in a further twelve countries.

Yael van der Wouden | The Booker Prize (2024)