The Safekeep is a debut novel by Yael van der Wouden. It is set in the early 1960s in a quiet provincial corner of the Netherlands. Isabel lives alone in the family home following the death of her mother, but the house isn’t Isabel’s. It’s owned by one of her two brothers, and Isabel lives every day with uncertainty. She loves the house, cares for it, but has no rights. Where will she go if Louis decides to sell it? Into this small world bursts Eva, one of Louis’s girlfriends. Eva is lively, talkative, and perhaps a little silly. Everything Isabel is not. The impact is predictable until it isn’t. No plot spoilers here. Suffice to say, Isabel’s life becomes anything but safe, quiet, and conservative.

The Safekeep is an ambitious and affecting novel, and an impressive achievement for a young author.