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I Am You

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An unforgettable love story about sex, art, and politics in 1600s Amsterdam. At age eight, Gerta Pieters is dressed as a boy and put to work in the service of the Oosterwijcks, a genteel Dutch family. When Gerta catches the eye of the young Maria Oosterwijck, Gerta’s asked to accompany her to Amsterdam, where Maria will study under a noteworthy Dutch artist.

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Inspired by the little that is known about skilled still life painter Maria van Oosterwijck’s life, I Am You is a love story, a meditation on gender, and an ode to artistic creation. 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.

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“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.”

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—SARAH JESSICA PARKER, SJP LIT​

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         "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 Prize-winning author of                                                                               The Hours and Day

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            "I loved this book so much! 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

 

 

          "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

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​“[A] transporting epic of making art and love.” — Booklist

“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

“Sensuous . . . Readers will relish this memorable portrait of two fiercely independent women.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

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Download the Reading Guide​

Selected Interviews & Press

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