The Safekeep

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The Safekeep

By: Yael van der Wouden

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Stina Nielsen

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2025

An exhilarating tale of twisted desire, histories and homes, and the unexpected shape of revenge - for readers of Patricia Highsmith, Sarah Waters and Ian McEwan's Atonement.

It is fifteen years after the Second World War, and Isabel has built herself a solitary life of discipline and strict routine in her late mother's country home, with not a fork or a word out of place. But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel's doorstep - as a guest, there to stay for the season…

In the sweltering heat of summer, Isabel's desperate need for control reaches boiling point. What happens between the two women leads to a revelation which threatens to unravel all she has ever known.

'A thrilling, razor-sharp, perfectly plotted debut novel' Sunday Times

'Moving, unnerving and deeply sexy' Tracy Chevalier, bestselling author of GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING

'A brave and thrilling debut about facing up to the truth of history, and to one's own desires… Van der Wouden brings stunning power and control to her page-turner about trauma and repression' Justine Jordan, Booker Prize Judge 2024

©2024 Yael van der Wouden (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Genre Fiction

Historical

Literary Fiction

Literature & Fiction

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Psychological

Thriller & Suspense

World Literature

Critic Reviews

I realise I’m quite late to this party but, my god, what a book. It’s an incredible novel, delicate yet tough, and pitted with narrative landmines. It blew me away. I haven’t been as enthralled by a novel for a long time. I have immediately insisted that everyone I know reads it. (Maggie O'Farrell)

Surprising, chilling, and electric. The Safekeep is a simply fantastic work of literature. (Alice Winn, bestselling author of IN MEMORIAM)

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 (Miranda Cowley Heller, bestselling author of THE PAPER PALACE)

Haunting and exquisitely poignant (Claire Fuller)

Moving, unnerving and deeply sexy (Tracy Chevalier, author of GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING)

The story is resolved in such a bold and tender way that it becomes not merely clever, but indelible (New York Times)

Most relevant

This narrative took so long to get anywhere. Painful at times, I don't know why I pushed through. Isobel's neurosis dominates the book and I will say that the authors depiction of this does create the right tone which is heavy and dark, so you need to be ready for this, because it's a lot. As others say, part three is where it's at and it really highlights the loss of a people. This book may be a struggle but a provocative one I think.

Provocative