The Safekeep
Yael Van Der Wouden
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
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.
Product Details
Price
$28.99
$26.96
Publisher
Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Publish Date
May 28, 2024
Pages
272
Dimensions
6.8 X 9.5 X 1.1 inches | 0.95 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781668034347
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About the Author
Yael van der Wouden is a writer and a teacher. She lives in Utrecht, Netherlands, and The Safekeep is her first novel.
Reviews
"Quietly remarkable. . . Van der Wouden's writing is fine and taut. She lasers in on details, and presents unsentimental and intrinsically powerful metaphors. . . I would have liked this book in any case, just for the pleasure of reading it. But the story is resolved in such a bold and tender way that it becomes not merely clever, but indelible." --Lori Soderlind, The New York Times Book Review "An absolutely stunning novel. . . The writing is completely beautiful; the plot is brilliant. . . What seems as a quiet story at the beginning reaches a turning point. . . Everything is up for grabs. . . A page-turner." --WAMC "A beautifully realized book, nearly perfect, as van der Wouden quietly explores the intricate nuances of resentment-hued sibling dynamics, the discovery of desire (and the simultaneous discovery of self), queer relationships at a time when they went unspoken, and the legacy of war and what it might mean to have been complicit in its horrors. . . A brilliant debut, as multifaceted as a gem." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review "An impressive debut. I already look forward to Van der Wouden's next. She can draw characters with nuance, without fear too; she creates and sustains atmospheres deftly, and ultimately delivers a thrilling story." --The Guardian "Ms. Van Der Wouden knows how to wring real emotion from her readers, and The Safekeep is the uncommon book that one experiences in an almost physical way." --Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal "This is an intimate novel, closely and brilliantly observed. . . An accomplished debut." --New York Journal of Books "[A] simmering, sexy work." --Parade "Moving, unnerving, and deeply sexy." --Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with the Pearl Earring "A masterclass in dramatic tension." --The Bookseller ''The Safekeep is Portrait of a Lady on Fire if Hitchcock had directed it. A stealthy, simmering novel about complicity and the lies we live by." --Clare Pollard, author of Delphi "An accomplished debut. . . Van der Wouden's sensuous writing and flair for drama make this a winner." --Publishers Weekly "Fans of Patricia Highsmith and Ottessa Moshfegh's Eileen will find much to admire here. Recommended for reading outdoors while eating a ripe pear." --New York Magazine, "22 Books We Can't Wait to Read This Summer" "Perfectly plotted and deeply surprising. A truly poignant debut novel, it will stay with you long after you turn the last page." --Service95 "Rife with intrigue. . . . For readers who appreciate introspective fiction and LGBTQ+ coming out stories." --Booklist "The Safekeep has the atmospherics of midcentury lesbian pulp novels, like Isabel Miller's Patience and Sarah (1969). Van der Wouden creates a dark, unspoken, agitated world for Isabel and Eva, then pairs it with a plot that is deft and propulsive. By the end, lesbianism is hardly the biggest revelation. . . These knotty moral questions, combined with a tightly wound plot, make The Safekeep an engrossing read." --Jewish Book Council "[A] swirling, atmospheric debut from Yael Van De Wouden. . . A talented and upcoming writer." --Our Culture, 10 Books We're Excited to Read in May 2024 "A novel of redemption as much as revenge, The Safekeep has the pacing and twists of a thriller." --BookPage, starred review "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--I was utterly blown away." --Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace "The Safekeep is thrilling: a riveting historical reconciliation and an impossible yet inevitable love story. Superbly wrought--serious, elegant, sexy, devastating." --Julia May Jonas, author of Vladimir "The Safekeep does not pull a single punch. This novel is equal parts filth, fear and fury. A narrative that draws you down its spiral until you're dizzy, and characters that tackle you to the floor and leave you sweating." --Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta, authors of The View Was Exhausting "An astonishingly skillful debut, The Safekeep manages the rare trick of being both gripping and intimate. A twisting, elegant, intriguing story about the secrets we hide in our homes and hearts--and how it only takes one person to unlock the past." --Joanna Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Whalebone Theatre "The Safekeep is a beautiful book, highly charged, tense, shocking and heartbreaking in equal measure. . . One of those rare books that feels as if it's been there all along, waiting to be given a voice. And what a voice this is." --Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry "Surprising, chilling, and electric. The Safekeep is simply a fantastic work of literature." --Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam "The Safekeep is a slow-burning, deceptively austere novel, whose subtle, crafty questions and lovely, lyric style will follow the reader long after its conclusion." --Shelf-Awareness "Haunting and exquisitely poignant. . . A wonderful novel." --Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground "The Safekeep starts out as one thing and then becomes something utterly unexpected. It's a slow burn of a book whose power creeps up on you suddenly, featuring fascinating characters, stunning prose, and lots of sex. It's hard to believe this is a debut novel." --Adrienne Brodeur, author of Little Monsters "A compelling and suspenseful tale that explores concepts of home, love and history." --Hadassah Magazine
