Published in 2025
295 pages
Victoria Redel has written four books of poetry and six books of fiction. Her short stories, poetry, and essays have appeared in Granta, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and BOMB, and she’s received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center. Victoria is a professor at Sarah Lawrence College and splits her time between New York City and Utah.
What is this book about?
This “lush, sexy, absorbing novel” of historical fiction “brings to life two artists who are inextricably linked in passion and competition” (Melissa Febos, bestselling author of Girlhood)
A “captivating” lesbian romance set in the “wonderfully atmospheric” art world of 1600s Amsterdam (Sarah Jessica Parker, SJP Lit)
At eight years old, Gerta Pieters is forced to disguise herself as a boy and sent to work for a genteel Dutch family. When their brilliant and beautiful daughter Maria sees through Gerta’s ruse, she insists that Gerta accompany her to Amsterdam and help her enter the elite, male-dominated art world.
While Maria rises in the ranks of society as a painting prodigy, Gerta makes herself invaluable in every way: confidante, muse, lover. But as Gerta steps into her own talents, their relationship fractures into a complex web of obsession and rivalry—and the secrets they keep threaten to unravel everything.
A mesmerizing historical novel, I Am You is a meditation on gender, an ode to artistic creation, and an unforgettable love story that reimagines the life of renowned still life painter Maria van Oosterwijck during the Dutch Golden Age.
“A stunning accomplishment.” —Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Day and The Hours
“[A] transporting epic of making art and love.” —Booklist
