THE SAFEKEEP by Yael Van Der Wouden — Review by Stella

A study in the workings of siblings, a story of love, revenge and desire entangled, and a house at its centre. The Safekeep is a stunning debut. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, author Yael van der Wouden eases us into 1961 Holland, looking to the future, but curtailed by the past. This novel keenly observes intimate relationships, social mores, the impact of war, and how these traumas influence decisions.
Isabel is living alone in the family home. Her brothers have both long departed for the city, each to shape their own lives, leaving their sister to care for, and then nurse their mother. Now in her mid-20s, Isabel strictly keeps the house in order, and herself in order. She’s a woman set in her ways, conservative and judgemental, repressed. Yet not everything is as it seems. There’s a broken piece of crockery in the garden from the ‘hare set’, but none of those plates have been broken in Isabel’s memory. It has a story to tell, but whose story? Isabel’s life in the small rural community is predictable. It is calm and pleasant. Yet you sense an uneasiness, a slight tremble in Isabel’s resolve and reserve, a sense of wanting. It is as if Isabel is waiting for something to happen, but she’s not sure what to wish for. And then the disruptor arrives. Eva, the most recent girlfriend of brother Louis, is coming to stay. She has nowhere to go. As Louis leaves for a work trip, the tension between Isabel and Eva grows. Isabel is convinced that Eva is after Louis for his money and his claim to the house as the oldest. She stiffens at Eva’s voice, her tread in the house, at her insistence of staying in Mother’s Room. Isabel counts the silverware and makes an inventory. Eva blows hot and cold, she laughs at Isabel’s ways and equally grows angry at her for her accusations. Despite the animosity, something is drawing them together. They recognise, in each other, a desire for change, for someone to see the other, to really notice them. As the barriers break down between the two women, and Isabel throws caution to the wind, desire takes them to a place apart from the others and their pasts, and they are enveloped in each other and by the house. But it is the house and its contents that will be their undoing. Isabel’s suspicions are founded. There are so many items missing. But why? The Safekeep is a story of reparation, of guilt and loss, and of finding love and truth even when it is difficult to accept.