The Safekeep - Yael Van Der Wouden (2024 Booker Prize Nominee)

 

Just as I was starting to have serious doubts about the judgement of this year's Booker Prize selection committee (and this is the fifth longlisted nominee of theirs I've read), I started to read Yael Van Der Wouden's The Safekeep. I almost immediately sensed that there was something different about this one, but I didn't want to get my hopes up too high that this lone Dutch nominee would at least give Percival Everett's James a solid run for the prize money. Well, in my estimation at least, The Safekeep does more than that; it's even better than James. 

The novel opens in 1961 in a more rural part of the Netherlands where people have finally put World War II far enough behind them to begin thinking about the future. Isabel is living alone in the big house she grew up in with her two brothers, Louis and Hendrik. The siblings have only recently lost their mother but, Isabel's brothers left home long before the woman died. Still, this is the only home that Isabel has ever known, and she is quite content to be living there alone. She seldom sees her brothers, each of whom are busily living separate lives of their own, and would rather keep it that way, really.

That all changes when Louis introduces his latest in a long string of girlfriends to Isabel and Hendrik over dinner one night. Isabel makes it very clear that she despises the little bleached blonde, and she makes her escape from the restaurant as quickly as possible - hoping never to see Eva again. But when Louis learns that he will be out of town on business for several weeks, he insists that Eva stay in the family home with Isabel because the young woman has no place else to stay while he is gone.  

Isabel is paranoid about protecting the things in her home and is already convinced that the girl who cleans house for her every few days is walking away with the family heirlooms one piece at a time. After Eva moves in, little things seem to disappear even quicker than before despite Isabel's attempts never to lose track of Eva when she is inside the house. As the disdain the two women feel for each other grows day by day, the house begins to feel to both as if it is about to explode.

And that's when the fun begins. There are at least two major plot twists in The Safekeep that caught me by surprise just about the moment I was starting to get comfortable with where I thought the story must be heading (thank goodness I was wrong both times). Van Der Wouden's clues about her dramatic storyline shifts are strong enough that readers won't be particularly shocked by the direction she goes if they are paying attention to the details. It is exactly these plot twists that make The Safekeep stand out in the crowd for me. 

This is a character-driven novel filled with multiple characters that began to feel more and more real to me with every new detail I learned about their personal histories. It is also one of the most sexually explicit novels I've read in a while, something that I mention here only as a warning of sorts for readers who try to avoid novels of this nature. The Safekeep is not a perfect novel, but it is definitely my favorite of the five Booker Prize nominees I've read to this point.

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Personal Ratings for 2024 Booker Prize Nominees:

The Safekeep - Yael Van Der Wouden - 5.0 stars

James - Percival Everett - 4.5 stars 

This Strange Eventful History - Claire Messoud - 2.5 stars

Orbital  - Samantha Harvey - 2.0 stars