The SafeKeep By Yael van der Wouden
S. Schuster 2025, 373 pages
The Safekeep is in some ways a historical novel–in other ways, and more important ways, an exploration of the kind of damage that wartime experiences can have on those who were children at the time. But most of all it is a story of atonement. It is set in Holland just after World War II. It is a bittersweet tale, predictable in that it was a finalist for the Booker Prize, an award that never tries to steer clear of difficult topics. Some readers may be uncomfortable about its sexual descriptions, but they seem somehow secondary to the plot, especially after the heartwarming ending.
The book centers around the family life, dysfunctional though it is, of Isabel, Hendrik, and Louis, siblings who are barely co-existing. In fact they are not living together in the family home, purchased by an uncle during the war. Isabel lives there, pathologically trying to protect the furnishings; the brothers come and go, briefly. Isabel is a shuttered human being, both literally and metaphorically. She is lonely, but cannot admit another human being into her life, particularly not Eva, Louis’s latest girlfriend. Louis cannot sustain a relationship, Isabel can’t begin one; only Hendrik has found peace, in a homosexual relationship which the others disapprove of.
Because of a business trip, Louis forces Isabel to take his paramour Eva into their home for an extended period. What develops next is sudden and unexpected, painful in the extreme. Although this is a debut novel, the author is skillful, producing tight, unadorned prose that paints an acute picture of the situation–acute but also astute. Feelings are raw until both women are ill, and the reader absorbs the sense of doom as abreakup occurs.
The ending is also unexpected, but rewarding. After ten years there is a resolution between the two women, and it is a relatively happy one– it leaves the reader breathless but also drawing a sigh of relief. This is a book well worth reading, but not the usual snug and pleasant summer read; it must have caused quite a sensation in Holland when it became public. Yael van der Wouden is a new author worth keeping an eye on.