? Shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, and recipient of the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction Award, The Safekeep by Dutch author Yael van der Wouden is a short novel that packs a mighty punch. In under 300 pages, van der Wouden presents an intriguing, bold, and at times jarring tale of two women at odds, who find themselves living with one another in an old family home in the Dutch countryside in the years following World War II.

Peace, disturbed: The novel begins with Isabel, a woman on the cusp of her thirties residing in her off-the-beaten-path countryside residence with her young maid. She spends her days alone, tending to her garden and her house. Her mother passes before the events of the novel — which take place in the Summer of 1961 — and her brothers have long left the nest to pursue their own lives. Isabel has crafted quite the mundane routine for herself, and the reader is quickly given the impression that any discrepancy from it would cause Isabel to spiral.

And spiral she does. Upon tending to her garden one day, Isabel nicks her finger on a broken shard of what turns out to be a dinner plate buried deep in the garden — one belonging to her late mother. Yet, her mother’s set is complete, she realizes. Disturbed, she boards a train to see her brother Hendrick, who naturally doesn’t think much of it, simply advising his sister not to blame it on the maid. Her brother’s words do not calm her, and she begins to ruminate over her house’s history.

An unwelcome guest: When Louis, a third sibling, joins Hendrick and Isabel, he’s accompanied by his partner Eva, a woman whose simple existence shocks Isabel. Eva is everything Isabel isn’t: confident, outspoken, and visually assertive, with bleached hair and tight, revealing fashion choices. More importantly, Isabel is suspicious of Eva, but cannot put her finger on why. The women exchange subtle hostilities — they’re not off to a good start to say the least, compounded by Isabel begrudgingly taking in Eva for the summer as her brother leaves to attend to business abroad.

It turns out that Isabel was never in a position to refuse, seeing as the house was technically Louis’. Eva begins to take up space — too much, in Isabel’s view — and Isabel finds herself in a living hell. To make matters worse, her mother’s heirlooms start going missing. But not all is as it seems, and the house’s dark history and connection to the war comes into play — we’ll leave it at that to avoid spoilers.

As the weeks pass, the animosity intensifies to such a degree that it leaves room for something else to brew: obsession… and desire — though it’s not your typical enemies-to-lovers story. Soon begins a clandestine affair that culminates in a shocking third act reveal that throws the reader in for a loop.

The Safekeep is a beautifully written novel that holds myriad complexities within its pages. The writing is descriptive yet tact, and the characters are fully-fleshed out, with the dialogue feeling reel and unfiltered. It is, however, an explicit novel at times, so be advised. That said, it is not one you’ll want to miss out on, especially if historical fiction is a genre you can’t get enough of.

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find The Safekeep at Bibliothek, or keep an eye out on Diwan for a restock of the paperback edition. You can also find the eBook on Amazon. Prefer audiobooks? The Safekeep is available on Storytel.

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