The Safekeep
GDLP
A few months ago I picked up a copy of The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden from london review bookshop and I just read it over the weekend. Dropped it in the bath and read filmy translucent pages so fast, actually flew through it. It’s about a highly strung woman living in a house on her own fifteen years after ww2. One summer she gets lumped with an unexpected guest who is strung the other way, strung so low. She despises this guest. That’s the set-up.
It’s a hot book but that’s not really the bit I ended up caring about, which surprised me. Yeah. I cared most about the colder parts. The history and the stuckness and economy and terrible politics — stuff that makes this book sound boring when it never is, not even for a single page. i liked the short hard sentences. i liked how often it felt like the writer was leaving breadcrumbs for me, and how I noticed each one, grateful and excited, knowing somehow it was all gonna come together in the big satisfying feast she made. And like, I won’t go into details because that would ruin the fun but I’ll say this: I learned a lot of stuff without expecting to. I’ll say: the writer really got claws into both shoulders of the main character and shook her awake. I’ll say: if smut is what’s selling best right now, this is the most interesting way to go about it, surely? yeah man i really love fast books. I’ll read whatever YVDW puts out next