Novel set in Overijssel 1961

13th June 2025

The Safe Keep by Yael Van Der Wouden, novel set in Overijssel 1961.

Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025.

I was prompted on several occasions to read this novel, given that it is has made it on to all kinds of Longlists and Shortlists. I dithered because I really wasn’t drawn to the book cover because it looked like it might be a manual for house renovation. To me it felt rather stark, hard and linear, the antithesis to the content, which is a soft, malleable and emotionally charged.  The American cover, on the other hand, has two pears and much better – to my mind – captures the heart of the story, softer and somehow rounder (although rather dull in colour).

Isabel is living her family house. She is pretty curmudgeonly and she has an abrupt manner that is alienating to those around her. Her two brothers do not live there, and seemingly the property has been promised to her brother Louis, who, if he were to settle down, would be expected to take up residency. So, she lives under the threat of eviction at some point down the line, should her brother so choose.

Louis arrives with his latest squeeze, Eva, and asserts that this is the one. But he has made this claim before and then promptly moved on to another conquest. Eva is literally “parked” with Isabel, whilst Louis is away on business. The two women are like chalk and cheese, and Isabel does not relish being confined with this flibbertigibbet, and demonstrates her seething anger by flouncing around and being rude. And yet, over time, there is a distinct warming between the women.

Isabel’s sexual awakening occurs during this time, and much description is devoted to bodily explorations and Isabel’s growing awareness of her responses.

There is however another story which starts to evolve in Part III, which further binds the women, serves to push them apart and yet keeps them locked in their family histories going back to WW2. And this aspect is possibly the richer element of the narrative, the women’s developing relationship in the earlier part of the book like a kind of warm-up to the final act.

It is indeed a novel that has stuck with me since reading. I wasn’t enthralled by it, the writing sometimes felt a little wooden and American, and there was a lot of detail (extraneous at times) that filled the 258 pages – in other words it felt like a much longer read. Yet, it is a story that is thoughtfully and richly told and certainly has something about it.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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