The first half of this book is predictable and even kind of insipid, but the twist that follows is an excellent one. Set mostly in the Netherlands in 1961, The Safekeep presents a dismal family portrait of three siblings who don't like one another. Isabel, who lives a pinched and regimented life in her uncle's house, is the erstwhile villain--she's unpleasant, cruel, and easily offended. When her brother leaves his girlfriend Eva with her while he travels, it is predictable that the two women begin an affair. all the while, Isabel keeps track of items that go missing from the house: a spoon, a cup, more. Isabel finds Eva's diary, takes her for a common thief, and Eva leaves the house. But when Isabel reads Eva's diary, a much more interesting story unfolds: Isabel and her family lived in the house owned by Eva's family, whose property--house, dishes, toys--was seized because they were Jews. Over time, Eva conceived of a plan to reclaim some of her family's belongings, and it works, until she and Isabel fall in love. For patient readers, this will be a pleasure to read, but that patience us definitely needed in the first part of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars rounded up

This was a very different than what I'm used to reading. I'm trying to add more historical fiction into my shelves, and I found this while browsing NetGalley. The mention of a sapphic relationship in 1960s Netherlands immediately sold me. I feel like this book reads more like a character study of 2 women, rather than a plot driven narrative. I have no problems with that, but it did feel like a very slow burn. I found myself begging the 2 characters to just admit their feelings to each other! I really enjoyed the twist in the end. I had nearly forgotten about the main "problem" of the story by getting caught up in the romance, and it was tied in nicely in the 3rd act of the novel.

Isabel has been left completely alone by her mother when she passed away and by her brothers as they went to live their own lives. She becomes a keeper of sorts as she is responsible for the family home and for making sure their past remains intact. I think her relationship with the outside world has really made her struggle to socialize and I believe she is intensely sad and lonely as well. Her brother has brought a girl home to stay with her sister while he is away for work. Immediately, the relationship is a difficult one since Isabel is so drawn into herself. The relationship evolves very quickly. I really liked the intimacy and intricacy of this book. There is so much underlying this relationship that evolves with the women. I was captivated at times with this book and really enjoyed the writing style. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

"The Safekeep" is a gripping and atmospheric novel set in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961. With elements of desire, suspicion, and obsession, it delves into the legacy of World War II and the darker aspects of our collective past.

Isabel, living alone in her late mother's country home, leads a life of routine and discipline until her brother Louis arrives with his girlfriend Eva, disrupting Isabel's tranquil existence. Eva's presence is jarring to Isabel, with her careless demeanor and disruptive habits. As tensions rise between the two women, Isabel's initial irritation morphs into a consuming obsession.

The narrative takes a twist when objects start disappearing from the house, fueling Isabel's suspicions and paranoia. The sweltering summer heat heightens the atmosphere of unease, leading Isabel down a path of infatuation and discovery. Secrets unravel, revealing that neither Eva nor the house they inhabit are what they seem.

With its mysterious and sensual tone, "The Safekeep" is a captivating debut novel that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The author's skillful plotting and writing create an immersive reading experience that lingers long after the final page. Fans of psychological thrillers and historical fiction will find much to enjoy in this haunting and provocative tale.

A thoughtful, reflective slow burn of a novel that explored what a home is and who it belongs to. The plot is intriguing but the beauty of this book is the characters and their relationships – Isabel, our protagonist, is not all that likeable but she is human, flawed, and ultimately becomes changed by love.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley. The feeling is very dark, lonely, and angry for the first part of the book as we focus on Isabel who lives alone in her childhood home. She is very focused and controlling on wanting everything to stay the same. Then her her brother's girlfriend, Eva, moves in for a month, against Isabel's wishes. This turns her world upside down in many ways as she has a sexual awakening. There is a lot of graphic sex which I wasn't expecting from the cover of this book. There is another twist to the story, but I won't spoil it. It wasn't really my usual type of book.

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for an early copy of The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Several themes are at work in this novel: what one will do to gain back a home and possessions stolen during war, same-sex relationships at a time of intolerance and male favoritism in inheriting property. All of this and more is examined in the short and provocative The Safekeep.

The story of a home in the Netherlands procured when its Jewish residents were removed to concentration camps during World War II is first told in a narrative form with the present owners unaware of the property's rightful owners. When the girlfriend of the present owner comes to the house, wheels are set in motion for a later
confrontation.

The later part o the book focuses on the diary of the true resident of the house and allows the story to come ull circle in a satisfying ending..

This novel had exquisite writing and unique characters but the plot developed too quickly and, thus, some of the character and plot development was not fully reached. An intriguing read.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199798201

The center point of this novel is a house in the Netherlands, around which the two main characters, Isabel and Eva revolve. Isabel and her family moved into the house during WWII (when she was a child), and Isabel has continued to live in the house and care for it (both practically and emotionally) after her brothers moved out to live on their own. Eva is the girlfriend of Isabel’s brother, Louis. Louis asks that Eva stay with Isabel while he travels. From there the story takes off.
Isabel is set in her ways, lonely, cold and unfriendly – and treats her temporary housemate, Eva, terribly. Eva is warm and friendly. The reader watches as the emotions between the two women change and develop. Simultaneously, the reader experiences the story of the house. I cannot say more without giving away wonderful plot points.
The writing is very good, and it is hard to believe this is a debut novel. It dealt with WWII’s tragic events from a unique angle, and I really appreciated that. My only caveat is that there is a great deal of explicit sex, so if this is not your cup of tea, you may wish to pass on this one.
e center point of this novel is a house in the Netherlands, around which the two main characters, Isabel and Eva revolve. Isabel and her family moved into the house during WWII (when she was a child), and Isabel has continued to live in the house and care for it (both practically and emotionally) after her brothers moved out to live on their own. Eva is the girlfriend of Isabel’s brother, Louis. Louis asks that Eva stay with Isabel while he travels. From there the story takes off.
Isabel is set in her ways, lonely, cold and unfriendly – and treats her temporary housemate, Eva, terribly. Eva is warm and friendly. The reader watches as the emotions between the two women change and develop. Simultaneously, the reader experiences the story of the house. I cannot say more without giving away wonderful plot points.
The writing is very good, and it is hard to believe this is a debut novel. It dealt with WWII’s tragic events from a unique angle, and I really appreciated that. My only caveat is that there is a great deal of explicit sex, so if this is not your cup of tea, you may wish to pass on this one.

This was an impressive debut novel. It's divided into three books, with the first one haunting and somewhat disturbing. You know something isn't quite right, and it draws you in with beautiful, present prose. It's implied that English is not the author's first language, which if so, is incredible.
The second book is basically a long sex spree, which I personally find distasteful and unnecessary. Part of it builds the storyline and is important for the main character's arc as she finds herself, but most of it was gratuitous, and in my opinion, takes away from the theme.
The third book is a completely different point and view and was definitely unexpected. It was a plot twist for me for sure. Looking back, the author did a masterful job of presenting everything you need to know at the beginning to understand the end without giving anything away and letting the story build and tell itself.
This is not a light read, and it's full of thematic ideas about home, family, guilt, and love. I found the love story, the central plot line but not the central theme, to be rushed and illogical. It seemed like the end of this story, but probably not the end of how things would have continued to play out for the main characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This is a well crafted, tender, evocative novel that reminded me a lot of Atonement. I like how sparse and quiet it is, but still strongly portrays a particular mood and has a vivid sense of place and well-rounded characters. Each of the three sections felt complete on its own but as a whole, the entire narrative is beautifully done. The only thing that I didn't enjoy were the many sex scenes in the second part -- they became tedious and boring, but I think I see what the author meant to convey and why they're a part of the story. I really didn't see the ending coming, but that's probably just me not being very attentive. Because of this, I was surprised at the end and glad I pushed through the parts that I didn't fully enjoy to see the narrative come together and to reflect on the hints throughout that I had missed. Overall, van Der Wouden writes beautifully and I really enjoyed the intricacies of this novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This, for many, I imagine, will be an incredibly special book that will mean an awful lot. Coming from a Dutch/Jewish background myself, I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately I don't think that I was the one that it was intended for. I think it is formulated around the feelings of the characters, and it is somewhat well done, but I would have preferred there to be a little more fleshing out of the rest of the story around the main characters.

I really did love the parts of this book that revolved around the house, the origins of it, the anxiety of the main character, and the references to the events of the war. There was poignancy in all of these things for me, and I was a little saddened that there was not more of a focus on it. While I think the relationships explored in this are beautifully done, it more feels like the rest of the book was written around these relationships as opposed to the other way around.

The characters were not necessarily objects of their time - they could be scooped out of this book and put elsewhere, and they would still work just fine. I think the writing was beautiful in places, and the poetry of the book was undeniable - it just failed to grab me quite as well as I had hoped.

In 1961, Isabel is living in her mother’s home, which was once ruined in WWII. She likes things neat and orderly. Her brother drops off his girlfriend to live with her. Little things start disappearing. Isabel’s life is out of order. It is a book of mystery and new discovery.

This was definitely a hard-to-put-down novel, but I didn’t really love it for reasons that would be spoilers if I explained. Broadly speaking, I had some issues with plot, character consistency, and changes in style, but that makes it sound like it’s much worse than it is. At times, it was hard to tell which character I disliked the most. Lately, I’ve developed a strong interest in 20th century European history, so I appreciated that aspect, which was my main reason for reading the book.

It’s between a 3 and 4 for me.

Thanks to Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for the advance copy to review.

I think this may have been a masterpiece. Or at least a masterful work of fiction. Most auspicious not just for a debut but for any novel, for any author.
The novel takes place in 1961 Dutch province, middle of nowhere, where the protagonist, Isabel, lives alone in a house too large for one person and a life too small for any one person. Yet she hangs on to it tenaciously for it is all she has and all she knows. With nothing but her two brothers for occasional visits, an uncle nearby, and a maid for assistance, Isabel passes her days, all the same versions of the same day, until she meets Eva, the girlfriend her brother brings by and leaves behind.
Isabel hates everything about Eva, but she cannot look away from her. Now that her life has been disrupted, now that her peace of mind has been taken away from her, what will she find instead … in a woman who is as different from her as different can be?
Soon things begin to go missing, the claustrophobic confines of the place crank up the suspense, an obsession spirals out of control.
And then the novel slips into the past, a brief but crucial journey, to turn everything you know about it around. And it’s all so beautifully clever that you just want to stand up and applaud. And it gives the story and its characters some terrific dimensionality that you immediately know the ending you want, the ending they need.
So yes, the plotting is very clever, but the writing … it stands to mention just how stunning the writing is. Evocative, vivid, profoundly engaging, this is the book you’ll read with all your senses, a heartbreaking, mind whirling story you won’t want to put down. The relationship between the two main characters, the halting, unfinished sentences, the tentative reach, the silences, and all that hides and can be found in ellipses … it’s a thing of beauty. It’s also might be one of the most sensual, sexy books I’ve ever read.
All in all, a gorgeous book. The sort of thing that rekindles one’s faith in written word. I absolutely loved it. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

3.5 stars, rounded up to a 4, since I liked it enough to stay up later than I'd planned in order to finish a few chapters.

For some reason, this book has left me... speechless when it came to writing this review. While parts were absolutely fantastic and, despite correctly guessing the "twist" near the beginning, I wanted to know the "hows" and "whys," not just the "what," other parts were slightly tedious. The focus on Isabel's neuroses was, at times, tiring. And the turn around from hatred to infatuation to together forever was sudden and abrupt. Better spacing could have made it perfect.

Despite the flaws, it was a great read.

3.0. Just found this book very difficult to engage in and took way too long to address simmering issues. Not my style but others may like. It.

Isabel leads a lonely life. Living alone, with only the housekeeper for company, in her late mother's house in the Dutch countryside post WWII. Both her brothers have moved out and she seems them occasionally in Amsterdam, or they come to visit her at the house. She is obsessed with cleaning things in the house, keeping them in order, and documenting their existence; 10 spoons, 5 bowls, etc... Her mother's things, or are they? In her father's will, the house will go to her brother Luis, once he's married and settled.
So you can imagine how concerned Isabel is when Luis brings home a girl, Eva. Eva is the opposite of Isabel, loud, brash, intrusive. Luis needs to go away for work, and Eva has no place to stay, yet Isabel has so much space all alone. How can she refuse this request from her brother?

This is a beautifully written story of seduction and revenge with a twist you never see coming. Eva and Isabel embark on an obsessive affair which comprises the middle of the book. Lots of detailed sex as they explore every inch of each other. However soon Luis is to come home, and what will happen then??

At this point I thought this is the standard star crossed lovers story with an inevitable ending. Oh no, my reader. Soon Isabel finds out why Eva really came here, and it's shocking, touching, and sad.

I'm amazed this is the authors first book. The plot is so original and clever. I loved it!
This book explores the relationship between two very different women, the effects of WWII on Jews coming back into Amsterdam, and the suffering they endured.

The Safekeep takes place in the Netherlands in the early 1960s. The main character, Isabel, is living alone in the house that she, her mother, and her two brothers moved into in 1944 after it was purchased for them by their uncle. Her life is disrupted when her older brother's newest girlfriend, Eva, comes to stay with her when the brother has to go abroad for work. At first, Isabel is bitter about the imposition and unfriendly toward Eva, but soon she is strangely drawn to her. Remembering how her mother rejected her younger brother when he revealed his attraction to other men, she is troubled by this and fights herself over it, but the emotions soon become too much for her to ignore. Just as Isabel comes to accept this new truth about herself, however, she realizes that Eva may have been hiding something about herself and how she wound up in this house with Isabel that throws everything into doubt. This is a story about self-discovery and sexuality but also about the war and identity and who owns property. It is written in a very spare style, with much more left unsaid and unwritten than what is on the page.

I was very interested to read the book, as the description highlighted so many of my likes. Self discovery, mystery and ww2. About 1/3 of the way thru, I found myself entranced with Eva’s relationship to Isa. However, as the story turned into a true hard core lesbian relationship I was a bit thrown. Now where was the story going? Then the addition of the Amsterdam home representing Eva’s home where she grew up, before the war, just added confusion to the story. Overall, I found myself turning the pages as quickly as my eye could catch the gist of the story. Overall, I was very very disappointed. I would have loved a deeper psychological story of Isa and Eve. The addition of the home and the role of Ida’s so called “ love interest” was boring at best. I will be curious to see how this book fares when published.