I Am You
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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 Dutch's Golden Age.
"A stunning accomplishment." --Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Day and The Hours
"A beautiful tale of extraordinary women making their own way in ordinary times." --Book Riot
About this Author
Victoria Redel has written four books of poetry, most recently Paradise; her last novel, Before Everything, was published in 2017. Her short stories, poetry and essays have appeared in Granta, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Bomb, One Story, Salmagundi, O, and NOON among many others. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center. She is a professor in the graduate and undergraduate creative writing programs at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City.
Reviews
A Book Riot Exciting New LGBTQ Historical Fiction Pick
"I loved I Am You in a way that's different from other books I have loved. Victoria Redel masterfully evokes the rich period of Golden Age Amsterdam and the centrality of its artists. Against this vivid and brilliantly detailed backdrop, the story of a female painter and her assistant comes to life, captivating us with its insights on time, art, sexual politics, class, women's rights, and how we tell and retell our histories. It is spellbinding, wonderfully atmospheric, and impossible to forget." --Sarah Jessica Parker, SJP Lit
"A lush, sexy, absorbing novel that brings to life two artists who are inextricably linked in passion and competition. Redel is a master storyteller whose exquisite prose held me rapt. A profound achievement." --Melissa Febos, author of The Dry Season and Girlhood, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
"I Am You is that rarest of novels, a story of ferocious insights into the human psyche and the drive to create art, coupled with twists and turns that grab you from the beginning and don't let go until the end. It's a stunning accomplishment." --Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Day and The Hours
"Sensuous . . . Readers will relish this memorable portrait of two fiercely independent women." --Publishers Weekly, starred review
"A novel that combines a seventeenth-century atmosphere with a twenty-first-century sensibility. . . . [Redel's] characters' nuanced, complex relationship is terrific [as] they intertwine on multiple levels of secrecy and closeted identity."--Kirkus
"With clean lines and bright colors, Victoria Redel has put the life into still life, giving us a portrait of Holland at the height of its glory--and an unforgettable picture of the erotic, entangled, tragic nature of art itself." --Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters
"Victoria Redel draws on what little is known of Maria van Oosterwijck's life to craft a beautiful tale of extraordinary women making their own way in ordinary times." --Book Riot
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