I Am You

A mesmerising 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 painter Maria van Oosterwijck during the Dutch Golden Age.

"Spellbinding, wonderfully atmospheric, and impossible to forget" Sarah Jessica Parker

"With echoes of Yael van der Wouden's The Safekeep, I am You is earthy and fleshy and pulsates with suppressed emotions of rage, envy and desire." Elizabeth Fremantle

At eight years old, Gerta Pieters is forced to disguise herself as a boy and sent to work for a genteel family. When their daughter Maria sees through Gerta's ruse, she insists 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, until the secrets they keep threaten to unravel everything.



Victoria Redel is a first-generation American poet and novelist whose work has been widely anthologized, awarded, and translated in ten languages. Redel's short stories, poetry and essays have appeared in Granta, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Salmagundi, O, NOON and more. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center. She is a professor of Creative Writing programs at Sarah Lawrence College.