An exhil­a­rat­ing, twist­ed tale of desire, sus­pi­cion, and obses­sion between two women stay­ing in the same house in the Dutch coun­try­side dur­ing the sum­mer of 1961 — a pow­er­ful explo­ration of the lega­cy of WWII and the dark­er parts of our col­lec­tive past.

A house is a pre­cious thing…

It is 1961 and the rur­al Dutch province of Over­i­js­sel is qui­et. Bomb craters have been filled, build­ings recon­struct­ed, and the war is tru­ly over. Liv­ing alone in her late mother’s coun­try home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be — led by rou­tine and dis­ci­pline. But all is upend­ed when her broth­er Louis brings his grace­less new girl­friend Eva, leav­ing her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the sea­son.

Eva is Isabel’s antithe­sis: she sleeps late, walks loud­ly through the house, and touch­es things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel devel­ops a fury-fueled obses­sion, and when things start dis­ap­pear­ing around the house — a spoon, a knife, a bowl — Isabel’s sus­pi­cions begin to spi­ral. In the swel­ter­ing peak of sum­mer, Isabel’s para­noia gives way to infat­u­a­tion — lead­ing to a dis­cov­ery that unrav­els all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and tru­ly over after all, and nei­ther Eva — nor the house in which they live — are what they seem.

Mys­te­ri­ous, sophis­ti­cat­ed, sen­su­al, and infused with intrigue, atmos­phere, and sex, The Safe­keep is a bril­liant­ly plot­ted and provoca­tive debut nov­el you won’t soon forget.