We are thrilled that I Am You, Victoria Redel’s stunning novelisation of the life of Dutch Golden Age painted, Maria Van Oosterwijck, has been selected as the winner of the Good Housekeeping autumn collection.

The readers panel loved it, with one stating “The novel was beautifully written, with a distinctive voice that stayed with me”.

The first novel published by Firefinch, 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.

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.

The paperback publishes on September 10th and is available for pre-order now. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-You-Sunday-Times-Month/dp/1918107149

Emma Hewitt‘s debut novel, Rooster, is already garnering high praise with Alan Cummings describing it as ‘Vivid, personal and filled with wisdom, sass and life lessons… this is a beautiful book and I cannot wait to see what she does next’ and Gillian Anderson declaring that ‘Emma Hewitt is a dazzling writer. Poignant, vivid, laugh-out-loud funny, Rooster is a sparkling debut that you won’t be able to put down. I can’t recommend it enough’. Jojo Moyes also loves it, calling Natasha ‘a heroine with whom a million women will identify’ and Esther Freud stating that ‘when Rooster ended I even missed the rooster’. We couldn’t agree more with this incredible praise, and we’re thrilled to finally be able to share the gorgeous cover, designed by Anna Morrison.

Natasha’s life is a perfectly calibrated illusion, motivated by a feverish desperation to hide her dysfunctional childhood. No one who knows her can deny this strategy is working.

Social mobility: tick.

Happy daughter: tick.

Keeping recovering addict mother at bay: tick.

Scheduling sex to keep marriage alive: tick.

When her husband leaves her for their slovenly, easy-going dog walker, Natasha’s carefully curated world implodes, and she is plunged into a spiral of chaos and obsession as her perfect life unravels.

But an unlikely friendship with a rooster named Freddie Mercury and his owner Barry sets Natasha on the slow journey back home, to her family, and to herself.

A dazzlingly funny debut novel by former filmmaker and screenwriter Emma Hewitt, which explores mid-life, motherhood and the twilight of a long marriage.

Ahead of the publication of her novel, The Piano Teacher of Montparnasse, in October this year, author Heather Morris will be visiting the UK for a series of events. As part of this, she will be appearing at the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival. Tickets will be on sale from Wednesday 19th August. Heather will also be taking part in a bookshop tour across the UK – details will be available soon.

Author of I Am You, Victoria Redel, will also be visiting the UK with an appearance at the Cheltenham Literary Festival with Rebecca Birrel in October. Tickets are available now at: https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/hidden-lives-women-artists-love-and-survival

We hope you can join us for one or more of these events, and look forward to seeing you then. Keep checking back for further event updates.