The Safekeep

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.

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

About Yael van der Wouden

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", has received a notable mention in The Best American Essays 2018. The Safekeep is her debut novel and was acquired in hotly-contested nine-way auctions in both the UK and the US. Rights have sold in a further twelve countries. In 2024 it was longlisted for the Booker Prize.
Details
  • Imprint: Viking
  • ISBN: 9780241652305
  • Length: 272 pages
  • Dimensions: 205mm x 22mm x 140mm
  • Weight: 310g
  • Price: £16.99