The Safekeep
The Safekeep
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The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024 SHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2025 LONGLISTED FOR THE WINGATE 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
Surprising, chilling, and electricThe 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
An impressive debut; I already look forward to Van der Wouden’s next * Guardian *
The Safekeep is a beautiful book, highly charged, tense, shocking and heartbreaking in equal measure.…One of those rare books that feels as if it’s been there all along, waiting to be given a voice. And what a voice this is. -- Rachel Joyce
[A] mesmerizing debut....A novel of redemption as much as revenge, The Safekeep has the pacing and twists of a thriller * Bookpage *
Tantalizing... fans of Patricia Highsmith and Ottesa Moshfegh's Eileen will find much to admire here. * Vulture *
An astonishingly skillful debut, The Safekeep manages the rare trick of being both gripping and intimate. A twisting, elegant, intriguing story about the secrets we hide in our homes and hearts - and how it only takes one person to unlock the past. -- Joanna Quinn, bestselling author of THE WHALEBONE THEATRE
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
An impressive debut; I already look forward to Van der Wouden’s next * Guardian *
The Safekeep is a beautiful book, highly charged, tense, shocking and heartbreaking in equal measure.…One of those rare books that feels as if it’s been there all along, waiting to be given a voice. And what a voice this is. -- Rachel Joyce
[A] mesmerizing debut....A novel of redemption as much as revenge, The Safekeep has the pacing and twists of a thriller * Bookpage *
Tantalizing... fans of Patricia Highsmith and Ottesa Moshfegh's Eileen will find much to admire here. * Vulture *
An astonishingly skillful debut, The Safekeep manages the rare trick of being both gripping and intimate. A twisting, elegant, intriguing story about the secrets we hide in our homes and hearts - and how it only takes one person to unlock the past. -- Joanna Quinn, bestselling author of THE WHALEBONE THEATRE
Yael van der Wouden was born in 1987 and lives and works in The Netherlands. The Safekeep, her debut novel, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024. It was also longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Wingate Prize, and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. She lectures in creative writing and comparative literature.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780241999776 |
| ISBN 10 | 0241999774 |
| Title | The Safekeep |
| Author | Yael Van Der Wouden |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2025-07-03 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |