Fifteen years from the end of 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. Isabel lives alone in her late mother’s country home, and her life is 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. In the sweltering heat of summer, 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 well and truly over after all, and neither Eva – nor the house – are what they seem.

Isabel

Isabel lives a lonely, isolated life in her late mother’s country home in a rural Dutch province. Lacking companionship, she focuses her full attention on the house and its possessions, ensuring everything is kept in its rightful place. When her brother Louis introduces his new girlfriend – Isabel’s polar opposite – her world is turned upside down.

Eva

Eva is Louis’s new girlfriend, who is invited by Louis to stay in the family home while he is away for work, much to Isabel’s dismay. Charismatic and laid-back with a mysterious background and a curious nature, she immediately puts Isabel on edge. 

Louis

Louis is the oldest brother of Isabel and Hendrik, a serial dater who falls in love quickly. He’s the rightful owner of their family home, but lets Isabel stay there until he marries.

Yael van der Wouden 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, among other places. She has also written an online advice column, Dear David, in which she answers people problems as a fictional Sir David Attenborough. The Safekeep is her first novel.

Lori Soderlind, The New York Times Book Review

‘What a quietly remarkable book … Nothing in this book is gratuitous. Van der Wouden’s writing is fine and taut. She lasers in on details, and presents unsentimental and intrinsically powerful metaphors … The story is resolved in such a bold and tender way that it becomes not merely clever, but indelible.’

Taylor Horner, Booklist

‘Van der Wouden’s debut novel is rife with intrigue and Isabel’s unease about everything from the missing items to her newly explored sexuality. For readers who appreciate introspective historical fiction and LGBTQ+ coming out stories.’

Kirkus

‘This is 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.’

Rachel Seiffert, The Guardian

‘This is an impressive debut; I already look forward to Van der Wouden’s next. She can draw characters with nuance, without fear too; she creates and sustains atmospheres deftly, and ultimately delivers a thrilling story.’

Jim Motavalli, New York Journal of Books

‘This is van der Wouden’s first novel, and it’s an accomplished debut. Writers as diverse as E.M. Forster and Nick Hornby are cited as influences, though it’s hard to get the Hornby—this book is not rom-com material. It could be quite a good movie, though, a psychological thriller with a slow build and a few jump scares. A double bill with films like Adore, Desert Hearts or Blue is the Warmest Color would work.’

‘Set in the Netherlands after the war, The Safekeep is a compelling story of obsession and secrets, exploring the stories that are kept from us as children, and the stories that we tell to ourselves about our own hidden desires. 

‘We loved how atmospheric this book is. The austerity of these years is powerfully evoked, the particularity of where each teaspoon and coffee cup belongs is beautifully calibrated. But we adored the dynamic of the relationship between Isabel and Eva, the way they inhabit this charged space, always aware of each other and their bodies.’

[The inspirations behind the book include] ‘A short story I once wrote about three siblings out for dinner and the additional girlfriend everyone hates; a fascination with how the Dutch narrativise national histories; my obsession with homes and the fantasy of owning a home; wanting to explore desire as the flipside of repulsion. The way it happened was like this: I was in the car on the way back from a funeral, looking out over flat Dutch fields, and somewhere between grief and a need to escape the idea bloomed, of a house, a woman and a stranger.’

Read the full interview here.

Isabel meticulously catalogues and preserves all of the possessions in her family home, constantly counting and checking that each item is in its rightful place and hasn’t been tampered with, moved or stolen. As you read the book, what did you think were the reasons behind Isabel’s obsessive behaviour?

Isabel’s intense dislike towards Eva was immediate, even though Eva remained friendly during their first interaction. Why do you think Isabel acted the way she did without attempting to get to know Eva?

The book highlights some of the societal expectations that were placed on women throughout the 1960s. Yet other aspects of the book – the queer relationship at its centre and its reckoning with the horrors of the past – could be regarded as very modern elements. How successfully do you think the author balances aspects of historical fiction with contemporary concerns?

Isabel’s brother Hendrik has a male partner, Sebastian, with whom he lives. Why do you think van der Wouden decided to add in this fact about Hendrik, and how might this have affected Isabel’s view on queer relationships? 

In the final part of the book, Isabel reads Eva’s closely guarded diary, the entries from which allow us to see events from Eva’s perspective – and placing her real identity front and centre. How did the diary entries affect your view of Eva and your empathy towards her as a character?

Some reviewers have praised the way van der Wouden slowly builds tension and atmosphere, especially in the book’s first third, while others felt that the pace was too slow and uneven in places. What was your view?

In an interview with the Booker Prizes, van der Wouden has said that part of her inspiration behind writing The Safekeep was ‘wanting to explore desire as the flipside of repulsion.’ Do you think she successfully achieved this with her portrayal of Isabel and Eva’s complex, hate/love relationship?

Gabrielle Schwarz, writing in the Telegraph, felt that ‘it takes Isabel longer than the reader to work out what’s going on’. What was your opinion on the effectiveness of the twist and, with the benefit of hindsight, were there any particular moments in the book that foreshadowed the revelations towards the end of the book?

Did you think the distrust, tension and growing attraction between Isabel and Eva was realistically portrayed. Was their love story convincing?

The Millions: Yael van der Wouden Wants to Touch Everything

Elle: Yael van der Wouden on Displacement, Complicity, and Obsession in The Safekeep

Waterstones: Shelfie with Yael van der Wouden

The Guardian: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden review – secrets and sex in postwar Europe

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