Review by Kevin Brown

The term “safekeep” has echoes of keeping something safe for somebody else, as if a person is holding onto something precious for that somebody. In Yael van der Wouden’s debut, Orange-Prize-winning novel, The Safekeep, it first appears that Isabel is keeping herself safe from the world, though it’s not exactly clear as to why. She has isolated herself in the house where their Dutch family moved during World War II. Their father had died, so their uncle helped them find this house outside Zwolle, to try to keep them safe. Isabel still lives there, more than a decade later, after her mother has died, and her two brothers live in the city.

She has isolated herself from her brothers, as well, as she doesn’t approve of either of their lifestyles. Louis dates one woman after another, yet he is unwilling or unable to commit to any of them for very long. If he does get married, though, the house becomes his, as their Uncle Karel believes he should have it to raise a family. Hendrik is in a long-time relationship with Sebastian, a relationship that 1960s Dutch society doesn’t approve of, though it seems Isabel is also upset at Hendrik for leaving her and the house.

Louis begins dating Eva, whom Isabel clearly dislikes, but his work requires him to go out of town for several weeks, and Eva suggests that she could live with Isabel during this time. Their few weeks together change Isabel’s life, as Eva’s presence first presents her with a realization of who she has always been but could never admit to herself, then leads to an epiphany about the Netherlands and the world, which Isabel has long suppressed.

In this outstanding first novel, Yael van der Wouden raises questions about the ways in which people deny truths about themselves, but also about how people tamp down unpleasant truths about countries and the world. She also provides hope that, if one person can admit to realities they’ve suppressed, perhaps more of us can, as well.

---

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden. Avid Reader Press, May 2025.

Reviewer bio: Kevin Brown has published three books of poetry: Liturgical Calendar: Poems (Wipf and Stock); A Lexicon of Lost Words (winner of the Violet Reed Haas Prize for Poetry, Snake Nation Press); and Exit Lines (Plain View Press). He also has a memoir, Another Way: Finding Faith, Then Finding It Again, and a book of scholarship, They Love to Tell the Stories: Five Contemporary Novelists Take on the Gospels.

Review by Kevin Brown

The unnamed narrator of Bradley’s debut novel, The Ministry of Time, has recently received a promotion within The Ministry, moving from the Languages department to serve as a bridge for a new expat. However, her newly arrived charge is not new to the country, as he was born in England, but new to the time period. The Ministry has discovered a time door, and they’ve used it to bring a handful of people — who were about to die in their lifetimes — into the present to see how they assimilate.

Thus, she spends most of her time with Graham Gore, who should have died in an Arctic expedition in the nineteenth century that went terribly wrong, helping him to adapt to twenty-first century life. They meet up with other bridges and expats at various times, some of whom adjust better than others. The narrator makes it clear early on that readers shouldn’t bother trying to understand the logic of time travel, advice that is always worthwhile when reading any book that involves it.

One of the reasons the narrator has her job is because her mother was a refugee from Cambodia, so leaders in The Ministry think she will work well in such a situation. However, she reveals herself to be rather naïve about the realities of her job. There are other people who are interested in the expats, leading to the narrator’s not knowing whom to trust, as she doesn’t truly understand the situation she has found herself in. She also struggles to understand Graham, and he can’t comprehend her, either, as their class and race divisions complicate their relationship beyond the obvious time differences.

Bradley uses time travel to ask questions about history, but more about history as a narrative that people construct to help provide them with purpose and meaning, as well as to control others or their world. The narrator comes to understand that she has defined others without understanding them, shaping narratives about them and herself that lead her to make a number of poor decisions. The ending leaves the future open, though, as the narrator is learning how to revise the narratives she’s crafted.

---

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. Avid Reader Press, April 2025.

Reviewer bio: Kevin Brown has published three books of poetry: Liturgical Calendar: Poems (Wipf and Stock); A Lexicon of Lost Words (winner of the Violet Reed Haas Prize for Poetry, Snake Nation Press); and Exit Lines (Plain View Press). He also has a memoir, Another Way: Finding Faith, Then Finding It Again, and a book of scholarship, They Love to Tell the Stories: Five Contemporary Novelists Take on the Gospels. IG, Threads, and BlueSky: @kevinbrownwrites