"Mesmerizing and shockingly good...I was utterly blown away." -- Miranda Cowley Heller

An outsider shatters the quiet domestic life of a lonely young woman in this thrilling debut set in post Nazi-era Netherlands. 

It’s 15 years since the Second World War and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. 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: 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 her suspicions spiral out of control. Isabel’s desperate desire for order transforms into infatuation – leading to a discovery that unravels all she has ever known. The war might not be over after all.

Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual and infused with intrigue, The Safekeep is a brilliantly plotted and provocative debut novel that will linger on.

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. Her writing has appeared in LitHub, Electric Literature, The Offing and Elle.com, amongst others. The Safekeep is her debut novel and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024.