The Safekeep

Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025

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The Safekeep

By: Yael van der Wouden

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Stina Nielsen

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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2025
LONGLISTED FOR THE WINGATE 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

Yael van der WoudenSaskia MaarleveldStina NielsenPenguin

Genre Fiction

LGBTQIA+ Creators

Literary Fiction

Literature & Fiction

Psychological

Women's Fiction

World Literature

Heartfelt

War

Genre Fiction LGBTQIA+ Creators Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Psychological Women's Fiction 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)

The Safekeep seeped into my subconscious, took hold and stayed inside me even after I’d finished reading it. Breathtaking prose, febrile suspense and exceptional plot twist towards the end. So many wonderful novels out there, but this one really does stand out (Bernardine Evaristo)

Surprising, chilling, and electric. The Safekeep is a simply fantastic work of literature. (Alice Winn, bestselling author of IN MEMORIAM)

Yael van der Wouden's compelling , clever novel features several irresistible literary devices. A grand old house. A festering family secret. The shadow of the second world war. And plenty of erotic tension , bringing heat to a story that interrogates dark themes of antisemitism, displacement and inherited trauma...The thrill of Van der Wouden's sly book is that it feels both juicy and deeply important

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)

An impressive debut; I already look forward to Van der Wouden’s next

What a staggering book. Best thing I’ve read in quite a while (Patrick Radden Keefe)

Most relevant

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?