Who wrote The Safekeep?

Yael van der Wouden wrote The Safekeep, first published in 2024. It is a work of literary fiction and is rated 'Essential Read' in our catalogue.

Is there a book club guide for The Safekeep?

Yes — Book Verdict has a free reading guide for The Safekeep with key themes and five original discussion questions at https://247bookverdict.com/reading-guides/yael-van-der-wouden-the-safekeep/.

Essential Read

The Safekeep

Name: The Safekeep
Author: Yael van der Wouden

by Yael van der Wouden · 2024

Literary Fiction · ranked #242 in category

Winner · The Women's Prize for Fiction, 2025

In 1961 in the rural Netherlands, Isabel lives alone in the house she inherited, suspicious of everyone — until her brother's girlfriend Eva comes to stay, and Isabel's careful, controlled life begins to unravel as she discovers what the house actually conceals about the war years. Van der Wouden's Women's Prize-winning debut is a slow-burn novel about desire, guilt and the things postwar Europe chose not to remember.

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