The Safekeep — Yael van der Wouden

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 BOOKER PRIZE

“Remarkable…Compelling…Fine and taut…Indelible.” -- The New York Times • “Mesmerizing and shockingly good…I was utterly blown away.” -- Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace • “A brilliant debut, as multifaceted as a gem.” -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) • “Moving, unnerving, and deeply sexy.” -- Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with the Pearl Earring

An exhilarating, twisted tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961 -- “a quietly devastating novel that explores the things that are kept from us as children and the things we tell ourselves about our own hidden desires” (The Booker Prize Judges' citation).

A house is a precious thing...

It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother's country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be -- led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel's doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season.

Eva is Isabel's antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn't. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house -- a spoon, a knife, a bowl -- Isabel's suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel's paranoia gives way to infatuation -- leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva -- nor the house in which they live -- are what they seem.

Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is a brilliantly plotted and provocative debut novel you won't soon forget.