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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
National
Lauren Del Fabbro

Debut novel by Dutch author wins 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction

Yael van der Wouden, left, will receive £30,000 along with a limited-edition bronze statuette known as the Bessie (Aaron Chown/PA) - (PA Archive)

A debut novel by a Dutch author has won the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction with the judges praising it as “a classic in the making”.

Announced at a ceremony held in central London on Thursday, Yael van der Wouden, 38, won the award for her novel, The Safekeep, which explores repressed desire and the unresolved aftermath of the Holocaust in post-Second World War Netherlands.

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