The Safekeep

by Yael van der Wouden · 2024

In the quiet Dutch countryside of 1961, Isabel lives alone in her late mother’s country house, a sanctuary built on the remnants of a war‑torn past. When she discovers a broken piece of ceramic hidden beneath the roots of a dead gourd, the fragile peace of her routine shatters, drawing her into a tangled web of desire, suspicion, and obsession. The arrival of another woman to share the house ignites a razor‑sharp confrontation with secrets that have lain dormant since World War II, forcing both women to confront the lingering ghosts of history and the dangerous allure of what lies beneath the surface. Yael van der Wouden’s debut novel is a haunting, tightly plotted exploration of memory, identity, and the unsettling power of the past.