Agnes Martin (1912-2004) was a Canadian-American painter known for her minimalist abstracts. She did her most famous work while living rather reclusively in the desert environment of New Mexico – in a house she built herself. She never expressed her sexuality publicly, but she never hid it either, and she was widely known to be a lesbian. The fictional protagonist of Nancy Foley’s captivating new novel is not Agnes Martin, but, rather, Agatha Smithson – another artist known for her minimalist abstracts. She also lives in the New Mexico desert, in a house she built herself. In short: ‘I Am Agatha’ is inspired by Martin’s life – but not slavishly so. At its heart, the novel is a love story between Agatha and Alice. Alice lives a truck-ride away from Agatha’s electricity-free and unplumbed home, but Agatha would dearly love Alice to move in with her. Alice, however, is reluctant, not least because her teenage daughter is buried in her own back garden, and she doesn’t want to leave her. Alice is also showing signs of dementia. This is Nancy Foley’s first novel, and it’s a real revelation. The New Mexico landscape is rendered so vividly you can almost feel the searing heat; and, most impressively, she’s managed to channel the enigmatic spirit of Agnes Martin into her protagonist, who is prickly, funny and fiercely independent (shades of Maggi Hambling, I thought). And the delicate, simmering, push-pull relationship between Agatha and Alice is tenderly drawn, even as the revelations start to tumble. RM

Published by Serpent’s Tail