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The Safekeep

By: Yael van der Wouden
Narrated by: Stina Nielsen, Saskia Maarleveld
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Publisher's summary

Longlisted for the 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 • “Fans of Patricia Highsmith and Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen will find much to admire here.”—Vulture

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 powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.


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.

©2024 Yael van der Wouden (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio
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What listeners say about The Safekeep

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Stick with it

This book will stay with me. I think in a way I didn’t expect. It started a little slow and then as you get into the book, you sort of realize why it starts that way it’s an interesting story about family dynamics, and isolation and repressed love I think if you hang in there with the book, you want to be disappointed.

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Storytelling

Slow reveal. Goosebumps. Something not quite right but What/Who is it and Why. Excellent.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Compelling tale of loss and safe haven

Beautiful story. The brothers’ characters were not well developed and rather one dimensional. But the two women were complex and striking.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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This One Should Win

I have no idea what the Booker Prize committee will decide, but IMHO, this one should win. This is a totally new (and erotic?) take on the problems associated with displacement and the right of return in our time—and how trauma persists or can be eventually healed. I mean, I really love James and Creation Lake, too—that committee has a tough choice this time around—but this novel has deep roots in the anxiety, zeitgeist, and faintest hope of this particular historical moment, and those roots are deep enough to sustain something that will live and last for a long time yet to come.

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Wow!!! Plot twist!

This book was amazing. Totally ended different from what I thought. Definitely rated R. Love the WW2 element

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Least favorite of the Booker Longlist

Decent book if you are looking for a romance novel. Not my genre. Plot was predictable, writing was above average.

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Wow! This is a wonderful listen!

This book is beautifully written with a taut, intense plot on top cooking hot and a bread-crumb tra subplot happening underneath. In the end, it all surfaces and the reader is faced with a whole host of intense feelings. I loved it.

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If I had it to do over I’d read the print version

Compelling story, well told, and sadly undercut by the primary reader. The readers voice was breathless and theatrical, and increasingly annoying — esp in describing a protagonist who, for much of the novel, aspired to a 2-dimensional life, and had no recognition of her own emotions. I can’t recall another novel with so much dialogue involving unfinished sentences. My sense is that it would flow much more easily on the written page, and hope others will consider engaging in that medium.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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I was quite unengaged

The narrator sounded too pathetic, and the story is utterly forgettable and dull. I wouldn’t recommend.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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dragged on forever

I should have returned this book. other reviews said stick with it, so I did. Never got better, it just dragged on forever. Narrator was irritating. storyline actually had potential, just never was fulfilled.

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