TY - GEN AU - Wouden, Yael van der. TI - The safekeep SN - 9780241999776 (paperback) U1 - 823.081 PY - 2025/// CY - London PB - Penguin KW - Women KW - Fiction KW - Lesbians KW - Family secrets KW - World War, 1939-1945 KW - Social aspects N1 - Originally published in 2024; Includes bibliographical references N2 - The safekeep: Set in the Netherlands in 1961, this atmospheric historical novel follows Isabel, a solitary woman whose carefully controlled life is disrupted when Eva, her brother's girlfriend, comes to stay at the family home for the summer. Isabel initially views Eva with suspicion, but their relationship gradually develops into an intense and unexpected attraction. As objects begin disappearing from the house, Isabel becomes increasingly suspicious and is forced to confront memories and secrets connected to her family and the Second World War. The emerging relationship between the two women exposes the emotional consequences of repression, loss, guilt, and inherited trauma. Through its exploration of desire, sexuality, memory, family secrets, and the lingering effects of wartime occupation, the novel examines how individuals and societies attempt to preserve, conceal, and ultimately confront the past ER -