The Safekeep

In 1961, in the Dutch province of Overijssel, the bomb craters of the Second World War have already been filled in, the buildings rebuilt, and people have finally returned to peaceful lives. Quiet, unassuming Isabel lives alone in her late mother’s country house, carefully following a strict routine and keeping every object in its proper place. But her orderly existence is thrown into disarray when her brother Louis brings his new girlfriend, Eva, to stay for the summer — Isabel’s complete opposite, a woman who sleeps late, makes a commotion, and touches things that are not to be touched. When small household items begin to disappear from the house — a spoon, a knife, a bowl — Isabel’s suspicions grow into a full-blown obsession. And in the height of the sweltering summer, her paranoia unexpectedly gives way to desire: through the strained relationship between the two women emerges an unpredictable romantic attraction that overturns everything the heroine has ever believed about her family and about herself. But what is hidden, even in the most secret corners, sooner or later comes to light — and perhaps the war has not truly ended after all.