The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

Posted by Ms A on March 17, 2025 in All, Book Club Fodder, Grab it Now, The Perfect Gift | Leave a comment

I fell in love with this book the moment I saw it. A small, dusty pink hardback, perched elegantly on the shelf at Glee Books. I took my copy to the counter and the cashier gave me a knowing nod as if I had stumbled onto Chanel at the local Vinnies. I walked home clutching my purchase, half expecting a stranger to ask, “Where did you get that beautiful book?”  I was in love without having read a single word.

The Safekeep is the debut novel of Dutch writer, Yael van der Wouden and it turns out is as fine a book to read as it is to hold.

At its core, The Safekeep is the story of a house in the Dutch countryside. It’s the summer of 1961, and what was once a busy home for three children—Isabel, Hendrick, and Louis—and their late mother is now cared for by Isabel alone. Isabel’s approach to looking after the house could be fairly described as obsessive meticulousness, to put it neutrally. She counts the cutlery daily, dusts the curtains, and has left her mother’s bedroom untouched since she nursed her through her final days.

But her careful routine is upended when she discovers a broken piece of ceramic in the garden. This shard features blue flowers along the rim and part of a hare’s leg, just like the plates in her late mother’s cherished china set. Nothing from this set (that Isabel cleaned weekly) had ever gone missing. How did it get there?  

The mystery unfolds in three loose parts. The first establishes the people and the place in delicate, sometimes dysfunctional, detail. The second delivers an unexpected and steamy Mills & Boon-style reawakening—for both the house and Isabel. Let’s just say her mother’s bedroom is well and truly repurposed. In the final part, a deeper history of the house is revealed—those it protected, and those it didn’t—leading to the poignant resolution of the mystery of the missing plate.

The Safekeep is a profound meditation on war, history and humanity—an exquisite reminder of the joy and importance of quality fiction. In times like those we are presently living through, a good work of fiction is more important to our collective sanity than ever. An original story (particularly one that is wrapped around history) has the power to make you stop, reflect and see things you wouldn’t otherwise.

Choose this incredible book for a gift, book club suggestion or to “safekeep” on your shelf.

And that’s my 2 cents worth.