Book Review – The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

About the Book

A house is a precious thing . . .

It’s been fifteen years since the Second World War and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed and the conflict is well and truly over. Alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel lives her 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: she 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 heat of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to desire, leading to a discovery that unravels all she has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva nor the house are what they seem.

Format: Hardback (262 pages) Publisher: Viking
Publication date: 28th May 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

The Safekeep has made a frequent appearance on literary prize lists, including the Booker Prize 2024, the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025 and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2025.

Isabel’s controlled way of life is governed by routine and detail. The sole occupant of the family home she has become in a way its curator, recording and preserving her mother’s treasured possessions. It connects her to the past, perhaps chains her to the past. But it may not be her future because her brother Louis will inherit the house from their uncle who bought it after the war when he chooses to settle down. Up until now that has seemed a distant prospect because Louis’s personal life has seen a succession of girlfriends come and go. But when he arrives with Eva, Isabel fears everything may be about to change.

The development of Eva and Isabel’s relationship, from hostility (at least on Isabel’s part) to something much more intimate, is a study in building a sense of simmering tension and emotional intensity. Whereas Isabel finds the attentions of her neighbour Johan distasteful she has an entirely different response to even a mere glance from Eva. Eva seems to have the key to unlocking in Isabel something that has been buried deep inside her, something perhaps even she herself didn’t recognise. It’s an awakening on every level.

I’m not a prude but I wasn’t completely convinced that the sex scenes needed to be so explicit. For me, the author had already created a sufficiently intense feeling of eroticism in other encounters between Eva and Isabel.

I wasn’t expecting the plot development that occurs in the final third of the book but it is so clever in the way it makes sense of disparate pieces of information scattered through the earlier parts of the book. For me, learning about Eva’s motivations was the most powerful and thought-provoking element of the book. I also found the way her story was told – in fragments and random thoughts – completely credible, which is not always the case for me with this particular narrative device. She has an obsession that has become the sole objective of her life, to right a wrong that up until now has gone unpunished or even acknowledged in Dutch society.

Although set in 1961, I didn’t get a strong sense of the period in the way you would usually expect from historical fiction through references to fashion, culture, external events, etc. However, the book does demonstrate how the impact of war can be longlasting and manifest itself in multiple ways. It explores complicity, brings home the geographical extent of the war and demonstrates how, even for those who survived Nazi persecution, many other things were lost. Also, that secrets have a way of finding their way to the surface and can change everything.

Given all that had gone before, I wasn’t expecting the book to end the way it did. Having said that, the idea of the possibility of reconciliation is a hopeful one.

In three words: Intense, atmospheric, sensual
Try something similar: Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

About the Author

Yael van der Wouden is a writer and teacher. She currently lectures in creative writing and comparative literature in the Netherlands. Her essay on Dutch identity and Jewishness, On (Not) Reading Anne Frank, 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. (Photo: Goodreads)

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