Dutch writer Yael van der Wouden wrote her debut novel, The Safe Keep, in English. The move paid off last month when the book, an unnerving exploration of post-war Holland and the aftermath of the conflict on two young women, was longlisted for the Booker Prize.
The Netherlands has had a recent streak of Booker success, but in the International Prize category, for works which have been translated into English and were first published in another language. Van der Wouden, who studied in the United States, has previously written short and narrative fiction in English, and her nomination is a first for the Netherlands.
The Safe Keep centers on Isabel, who lives alone in a house purchased by her uncle in the run up to World War II. She’s nearly 30 and is feeling the pressure to marry, in part because the house will go to her brother Louis, when he finally settles down. Her other brother Hendrick is written out of the inheritance for being gay.
The philandering Louis discovers his latest fling Eva needs a place to stay for the summer and deposits the girl with his sister, promising to return in a month to retrieve her. Isabel, who has still unable to move on from her mother’s death several years earlier, resents the intrusion and becomes increasingly paranoid as objects around the house go missing. As the two live alongside each other, they each discover things about one another and their shared history.
The Netherlands is rife with books grappling with the impact of WWII, mostly famously Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and Van der Wouden once wrote a viral essay about not reading it. The Safe Keep, set in 1961, looks forward to the world the war has left in its wake. The novel intertwines Isabel’s personal awakening with everyone around her confronting or ignoring their historical legacy.
While there is nothing supernatural at play in The Safe Keep, the book has a creepy, unnerving vibe. Very little action happens with Isabel and Eva — dinners with the brothers, Isabel’s occasional interactions with a suitor, the maid’s regular visits — but the narrative has the feel of the pace of a thriller. The book becomes difficult to put down.
Van der Wouden smartly sets up the reader’s expectations and then she diverts the story, revealing some new information that changes the novel’s entire trajectory. The work, ostensibly about a young woman living alone and struggling with complicated family dynamics, blossoms into something much more complex.
In July The Safe Keep became the first work by a Dutch writer to be longlisted for the Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the literary world. It was published by Viking, which beat out eight other publishers in an auction for the work last year.
The Safe Keep is a brilliant exploration of the indelible impact WWII has had on Dutch society with complicated characters who come to life through wonderful prose. You can get your copy at the American Book Center.
