In the summer of 1961, life moves calmly in the Dutch province of Overijssel. Isabel is living on her own in her late mother’s countryside home, keeping to a steady routine that feels almost protective. Then Eva arrives, her brother Louis’s newest girlfriend, and the calm is gone. Isabel doesn’t want company, and she makes that clear. Louis ignores her anyway. As the “official” owner of the house, he announces Eva will be staying and leaves before Isabel has any real say in it.
From the start, Eva feels like an intrusion. She’s the kind of guest who takes up space without asking, and her habits quickly grate on Isabel. Their days together turn tense, full of small moments that carry more weight than they should. It’s the sort of setup that promises a slow burn of resentment, curiosity, and power shifts under the surface.
Yael van der Wouden writes the opening of The Safekeep chapters really well. She describes how the house feels lived-in and specific, down to its objects and atmosphere, and the character details land with precision: expressions, posture, the signals people give off when they’re trying to stay composed.
After that, though, the tension softens. The story leans heavily on the push and pull between Isabel and Eva, yet neither of them felt fully developed on the page. Because of that, their clash as well as the relationship that begins to take shape, didn’t draw me in emotionally.
The novel does touch on bigger ideas, including post-war European life and antisemitism, and those themes matter. Here, though, they read more like the frame of the plot than the main canvas. The highlight of the book is desire: its confusion, its intensity, and the way love can bloom in a place where it seems impossible.
I’d recommend this most to readers who enjoy moody, intimate romances with a slow simmer and a charged atmosphere. If you’re going in hoping for historical or literary fiction that digs deeply into its wider context, this one may feel lighter in that part than you’d expect.
My Favorite Bits
- What was joy, anyway. What was the worth of happiness that left behind a crater thrice the size of its impact.
- Morning rose in the quiet chord of winter’s pink.
Author: Yael van der Wouden
Publication date: 5 April 2024
Number of pages: 272 pages
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