“Spellbinding, wonderfully atmospheric, and impossible to forget.”
- Sarah Jessica Parker, SJP Lit
An intimate portrait of two women reckoning with love, sex, art, and identity in 1600s Amsterdam.
Transformed by passion. Trapped by secrets.
ISBN
9781638932062
Language
English
Edition
Hardcover
Sale date
September 30, 2025
Dimensions
6 x 9
About the Book
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
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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”