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The Safekeep

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The Safekeep

By: Yael van der Wouden
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Stina Nielsen
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2025

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 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.

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

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

'A brave and thrilling debut about facing up to the truth of history, and to one's own desires… Van der Wouden brings stunning power and control to her page-turner about trauma and repression' Justine Jordan, Booker Prize Judge 2024

©2024 Yael van der Wouden (P)2024 Penguin Audio

 Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Psychological Thriller & Suspense World Literature Heartfelt War

Critic reviews

I realise I’m quite late to this party but, my god, what a book. It’s an incredible novel, delicate yet tough, and pitted with narrative landmines. It blew me away. I haven’t been as enthralled by a novel for a long time. I have immediately insisted that everyone I know reads it. (Maggie O'Farrell)
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 (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)
The story is resolved in such a bold and tender way that it becomes not merely clever, but indelible (New York Times)
All stars
Most relevant  
It was a struggle to get to Part 3, but I was pleased I'd persevered.

part 3

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A wonderful story told in intricate detail. I loved how the lives of the characters are revealed quietly until we reach the shocking historical events that had such unfair consequences for people like Eva's family. I felt the narrator was perfect for this book - her voice was so gentle but full of passion. An intriguing book with a heartwrenching love story. Yael van der Wouden is a mesmeric author.

Beautiful and heartbreaking

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Wonderful contemporary writing, stunningly performed. The backdrop to the story is post-World War II, post-Holocaust Holland. A place where so many people did not return and women had to marry or be at the mercy of their family. And it is the story of the passion between two women. A brilliant book, I could not put it down.

Complex and shocking

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The turns this book took! Slow but so worth it. So well written - the author writes beautifully I loved this - story, prose, characters- all of it

The real impacts of war on identity and love

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This novel has real potential, especially in its consideration of the thorny issue of generational restorative justice. Regrettably, as the book goes on, the author increasingly concentrates on the (rather repetitive) interactions between the two women and, despite the key revelation in part three, the denouement focuses solely on the resolution of the love story, by which time the greater symbolism of the house has diminished to something of a bargaining chip. Well written and well read, with interesting peripheral characters and an all too brief glimpse of Dutch attitudes in the aftermath of the war, the final focus on romance rather than restitution feels, to this reader, like an opportunity lost.

Promises more than it ultimately delivers

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Great piece of work, much more to it that it seemed during the first couple of hours. Stick with it.
Easy to follow, not too many characters. Quite a work of art, very original and worthy of a prize I think.
At the beginning we hear about three siblings; Isabel, Henrik, and Louis. Their parents are deceased, and the backdrop of the story revolves around their parents' house "The Safekeep", and what will happen to it. Moreover, it is about relationships between the three siblings and their own relationships with partners outside the family. (Some rather graphic lesbian sex scenes!)
The story was specifically set in The Netherlands, but Penguin chose to use actors with American accents. That spoilt it a bit. Why not use Dutch actors?

Thought provoking

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I was gripped from the very start. So many layers of human vulnerability and strength written and performed with powerful conviction

Beautiful and painful

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I enjoyed the start and end but the middle bit where the relationship between Eva and Isabel develops was a bit long drawn out and predictable. Somehow the narrators’ pronunciation of the Dutch words and names was a bit off in the flow of the story. I would have preferred if they’d just stuck to the English pronunciation of the Dutch words.

The twist at the end

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I’m telling you right now this book is going to win awards. That little synopsis does not do the book justice. It’s a sapphic love story, it has a great structure the diary in part 3 just wraps this book up in a great bow.

Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow

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An eye-opening reframing of small town cultural conflict during and especially after WW2 in the Netherlands.

Redirect and rich prose.

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