The Hickory Stick Bookshop is delighted to welcome author Victoria Redel, who will be talking about her novel “I Am You” with New York Times bestselling author, Dani Shapiro, on Saturday, October 4th at 5.00 pm. The talk will be followed by a book signing.

ABOUT THE BOOK

“I Am You” sweeps you back to mid-1600s Amsterdam, the height of Dutch influence and artistic genius, where two women–a painter, Maria van Oosterwijck, and her family servant, Gerta Pieters–begin defying the norms of their time as they take on the male-dominated art world–and fall in love.

 

At seven years old, Gerta’s hair is lopped off and she’s sent to work for the Oosterwijcks under the name Pieter, because it’s a boy servant the family needs. As Pieter, she splits wood, minds the hens and rabbits, scrubs the wooden floors of the house, and tends the garden—all while the family’s teenage daughter, Maria, looks on, sketching Pieter’s every movement. A few years later at the dinner table, Maria lays Gerta’s deception open alongside a demand that Gerta accompany her to Utrecht, where Maria will apprentice in the workshop of a famous painter.

In Utrecht, Maria learns to paint skilled still lifes—though she is the only woman in her workshop, and will never be accepted into the painters’ guild. As Maria ascends to great heights of skill and fame, the relationship between maid and employer deepens and shifts, and it becomes clear that Gerta, too, possesses abilities far beyond what society expects.

Inspired by the little that is known about the real painter Maria van Oosterwijck’s actual life, “I Am You” is a love story, a meditation on gender—the ways it binds and frees us—and an ode to artistic creation. As beautifully wrought as Oosterwijck’s paintings themselves (delicate, blazing in color, and at times enveloped in shadow), Redel’s new 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

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.

Dani Shapiro is the author of eleven books, and the host and creator of the hit podcast Family Secrets. Her most recent novel, “Signal Fires”, was named a best book of 2022 by NPR, Time Magazine, Washington Post, Amazon, and others, and is a national bestseller. Her most recent memoir, “Inheritance”, was an instant New York Times Bestseller, and named a best book of 2019 by Elle, Vanity Fair, Wired, and Real Simple. Both “Signal Fires” and “Inheritance” were winners of the National Jewish Book Award. Dani’s work has been published in fourteen languages and she’s currently developing “Signal Fires” for its television adaptation. Dani’s book on the process and craft of writing, “Still Writing”, has just been reissued on the occasion of its tenth anniversary. She occasionally teaches workshops and retreats and is the co-founder of the Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

“”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

“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 and Girlhood, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award

“A novel that combines a 17th-century atmosphere with a 21st-century sensibility…. [Redel’s] characters’ nuanced, complex relationship is terrific [as] they intertwine on multiple levels of secrecy and closeted identity.”

—Kirkus

This event is free and open to the public. If you are unable to attend this event, you may reserve signed copies of “I Am You” by calling The Hickory Stick Bookshop at (860) 868 0525, or shop our website 24/7 at www.hickorystickbookshop.com.

The Hickory Stick Bookshop, 2 Green Hill Rd
https://hickorystickbookshop.com/event/2025-10-04/victoria-redel-conversation-dani-shapiro