Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Historic and folklore novels
  3. Historic novels

Read and listen for free for 14 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
4.0(22)

The Safekeep

* SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 BOOKER PRIZE *

* WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION *

Shortlisted for the 2025 Women’s Prize, Dylan Thomas Prize, and Aspen Words Literary Prize • A Best Book of 2024: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Time, The Economist, The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Kirkus Reviews, The Independent, BookPage, The Sunday Times (London)

“Remarkable…Compelling…Fine and taut…Indelible.” —The New York Times • “Moving, unnerving, and deeply sexy.” —Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with the Pearl Earring • “A brilliant debut, as multi-faceted as a gem.” —Kirkus Reviews

A “razor-sharp, perfectly plotted” (The Sunday Times, London) 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 brave and thrilling debut about facing up to the truth of history, and to one’s own desires” (The Guardian).


Author:

  • Yael van der Wouden

Narrators:

  • Stina Nielsen
  • Saskia Maarleveld

Format:

  • Audiobook
  • E-book

Duration:

  • 9 h 30 min
  • 192 pages

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Historic and folklore novels
  • Historic novels
  • Historic and folklore novels
  • Religious novels

More by Yael van der Wouden

Skip the list
  1. I minnenes hus

    Yael van der Wouden

    audiobook
  2. In ihrem Haus : Auf der Shortlist des Booker Prizes 2024 und des Women's Prize for Fiction 2025!

    Yael van der Wouden

    audiobook

Others have also read

Skip the list
  1. Stone Yard Devotional

    Charlotte Wood

    audiobook
  2. Creation Lake : A Novel

    Rachel Kushner

    audiobookbook
  3. Nesting : Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025; the tender, soaring debut you won't be able to forget

    Roisin O'Donnell

    audiobookbook
  4. Night of the Living Rez

    Morgan Talty

    audiobook
  5. The Family Recipe : A Novel

    Carolyn Huynh

    audiobookbook
  6. Headshot

    Rita Bullwinkel

    book
  7. Mrs. Porter Calling : A Novel

    AJ Pearce

    audiobookbook
  8. We Are Not Like Them: A Novel

    Christine Pride, Jo Piazza, Chanté McCormick

    audiobook
  9. Nevada

    Imogen Binnie

    audiobook
  10. The Coast Road : A Novel

    Alan Murrin

    audiobook
  11. City of Night Birds : A Novel

    Juhea Kim

    audiobook
  12. Två par systrar

    Marilynne Robinson

    book

  • 3 books

    Yael van der Wouden

    Yael van der Wouden is a writer and a teacher. She lives in Utrecht, Netherlands, and The Safekeep is her first novel.

    Read more

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5