THE SAFEKEEP by Yael van der Wouden

Isabel lives alone in her family home in the Netherlands in 1961.  She has a sharp tongue and doesn’t mind using it, even with strangers like her older brother’s new girlfriend, Eva.  When her brother has to leave the country for a month on business, he insists that Eva stay with Isabel.  Isabel can’t really object, although she does try, because she has no claim to the house, which will eventually belong to her brother.  For the first two weeks these two women are like oil and vinegar, but then things change when Isabel comes in from a date and describes her discomfort with the whole evening.  Their détente segues into desire for one another that both view as forbidden, although Isabel’s younger brother lives with his male lover. This development, however, is not the most jaw-dropping aspect of the novel.  A startling disclosure--well past halfway through the novel--changes the whole timbre of the book, rewarding your patience for sticking with it.  This book may not be a thriller, but it definitely has a twist that I did not see coming.  I failed to pick up on several clues that could have prepared me for the unexpected revelation, and I was glad to have an electronic copy so that I could go back and search the pages I had already read.  The manner in which the plot unfolds is exquisite.