The Safekeep(78)

To Simone Atangana Bekono: for letting me pick your mind for gems, for letting me have an absolute meltdown on your couch. To Daphne Huisden, the only person who thought this book was hilarious. To Marga Minco, z”l, whose short story, “Het Adres”, inspired the bones of this novel. To the awe-inspiring Michal Citroen for her extensive research into how postwar Netherlands treated Jewish people who returned from the camps (U wordt door niemand verwacht). To everyone who let me write in their homes, who fed me, who let me weep near or in their arms: Silvana, Ankie, Riva. Thank you! You have done a very good deed indeed. To Kimberley and Laura: You’re my people, there’s nothing else to it, I love you so much. You knew I’d get here long before I did. To everyone that summer in Limburg: thank you for making Isabel’s house a real place.

To all of my students, young and old: You’ve brought me so much joy. Thank you for letting me talk books at you.

To Longleaf Review, who in 2020—March, just as the lockdown started—organized an online writing workshop “on silence.” One assignment read, “write a scene around a major elephant in the room.” I opened a document, titled it, “siblings go out for dinner,” wrote the opening sentence, “no one knew where Louis had dug up this girl,” and then forgot about it for a full year. Isn’t that a good reminder? Maybe that note you just scribbled down will end up being the heart of a story.

And of course, to my family, whom I love so much, for whom I barely have the words. Ima, Papa: Sorry for the time when I was nine and you tried to get me into reading and I said I couldn’t because “the letters were so small and boring.” I just wanted to play outside, but I get it now. I am humbled by how much you believe in me. Tamar and Shira: The first interesting thing I ever did was be your sister. I am bursting with pride for you. Anything meaningful this book has to say about siblings and dogs comes from us. Thank you all for not talking to me about chapter 10, you’re very respectful people.

Also: thanks, Utrecht-Maastricht morning train, you were quiet and you let me write; thank you, Utrecht-Berlin train, for the diary chapter; thank you to my landlord, for not fixing the leak for so long that a mushroom grew from my windowsill—very inspiring.