The Cape Jewish Chronicle brings you a regular book review by Cape Town bookaholic, Beryl Eichenberger. Please share your recommendations for good reads by sending an email to editor@ctjc.co.za. We’ll bring you written book reviews, and occasionally, you’ll also be able to enjoy audio reviews narrated by Beryl.
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Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2024 and now winner of the Women’s Prize in 2025, Yael van der Wouden’s debut novel The Safekeep brings an intense, lyrical voice to our shelves.
A house is the main character, and, as the story unfolds, what is ownership? A broken piece of crockery found in the garden alerts the very unlikeable protagonist Isabel, 27 years old, unmarried, repressed, resentful, angry, to a broken plate…but the set with the blue hares, as she knows it, is complete. It is this small fragment that sets the scene. In the summer of 1961 Isabel is living in the family home in rural Netherlands. The war is over, the country recovering, but it will take more than 15 years to repair a country’s psyche.
Isabel is stuck. She is the sister who cared for her cold mother until she died. She is the sister who safekeeps the home, carefully accounting for each spoon, dish, plate – particularly those with the blue hares – a set her mother loved. But she has no claim to the house. Her gregarious brother Louis is set to inherit when he settles down. Brother Hendrik lives with his partner Sebastian, a couple that are endearing. Both brothers as unlike Isabel as could be. She is alone except for her domestic help Neelke whom she treats with disdain and suspicion. Her neighbour Johann thinks he has ensnared her, but she is cold and distant.
But when Louis dumps his latest girlfriend – Eva – on Isabel the dynamics change. Eva is chatty, modern, sexy. Hateful to Isabel. An intruder who must be watched. And the possessions counted. Until Eva becomes an obsession, catapulting Isabel into uncharted emotions.
The writing is captivating, the plotting intricate, surprising – leading the reader down a path of displacement, troubled relationships, sexual awakening, suspicion, ownership. It is a haunting story and Van der Wouden skillfully creates the right amount of tension. Lulling you in the first part until, with a jolt, the reader is taken into an intimacy that is sadly real, moving, a blossoming of a solitary woman. But more than that it is a story seldom told. Of the aftermath of the Holocaust, and a country’s shame.
A deeply thought-out narrative. She asks questions: what is possession? Do you really own anything – material or emotional? Memories invoked and the need to be anchored in all that was familiar to know yourself. With the shattering of the familiar and the chance to reclaim in the aftermath of war, all come under her scrutiny. An important novel and worthy winner – to be savoured slowly.
The Safekeep is available to borrow from the Jacob Gitlin Library or for purchase at all good bookstores. ●
About the author
Yael van der Wouden was born in Israel to a Dutch father and Israeli mother. She grew up in the Netherlands and studied comparative literature at Utrecht University and SUNY Binghampton. She has described herself as a “Dutch-Israeli mixed-bag-diaspora child”. Her debut novel, The Safekeep, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2024. It won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in June 2025. For more information: Wikipedia or yaelvanderwouden.com
Get to know Beryl Eichenberger
Hailing originally from the UK, Beryl Eichenberger has lived in Cape Town for over four decades.. Having worked in retail and media promotions she started her own Public Relations agency in 2000, specialising in lifestyle projects. She semi-retired in 2015 to pursue the projects she loves. A self- confessed bookaholic and lover of the spoken word, this energetic ‘seenager’ uses her experience to tread the boards, volunteer with a number of organisations including Woman Zone, an organisation which unites the women of Cape Town, as well as being on the Jewish Literary Festival team since inception. Beryl broadcasts on Fine Music Radio, reviews books, interviews authors, is a keen theatre-goer and loves to travel. She relaxes by taking time out with her cats!
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