“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.” —Melissa Febos, author of The Dry Season and Girlhood, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
An unforgettable love story about sex, art, and identity in 1600s Amsterdam.
We don’t choose our obsessions; for better or worse, they reveal themselves to us.
ISBN
9781638932062
Language
English
Edition
Hardcover
Sale date
September 30, 2025
Dimensions
6 x 9
About the Book
At age eight, Gerta Pieters disguises herself as a boy and goes to work in the service of the Oosterwijcks, a genteel Dutch family. Young, beautiful Maria Oosterwijck notices Gerta, and insists that she accompany her to Amsterdam, where Maria will study under a noteworthy Dutch artist.
In Amsterdam, Maria rises in the ranks of society as a prodigy of still life painting. From the shadows, Gerta watches her ascension and learns to make herself invaluable to Maria in innumerable ways. As their relationship evolves, Gerta becomes so intrinsic to Maria’s personal life—and her art—that their carefully maintained balance of power threatens to collapse.
Inspired by the little that is known about renowned painter Maria van Oosterwijck’s life, I Am You is a love story, a meditation on gender, an ode to artistic creation, and a study in obsession. Victoria Redel’s novel brings to life the copious spoils of Amsterdam’s Golden Age, and the perils that lay hidden within them for women like Maria and Gerta.
Reviews
“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.”
“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.”