-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Discuss | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
A Novel
by Nancy Foley
Book Reviewed by:For readers of Elizabeth Strout and Sigrid Nunez, a darkly funny and moving debut novel about the unforgettable Agatha, whose devotion to a widow with dementia (and an inconvenient attachment to her daughter's grave) sparks a radical reckoning with life, loss, and love's aftermath.
Agatha, a bristly painter fleeing her own darkness, decamps to rural New Mexico to live the reclusive life of a small-town curmudgeon. It is there she meets Alice, a mild widow with a deepening case of dementia who keeps steady vigil at her daughter's backyard grave. Despite Agatha's rough edges and fierce aversion to sentimentality, she surprises herself by falling in love, and her well-worn convictions begin to upend.
As Alice's condition worsens, Agatha hatches a plan for them to live together at her remote residence at Mesa Portales. But when Alice's wayward son comes along with different ideas—and Alice suddenly goes missing—Agatha takes matters into her own hands with the help of a faithful thirteen-year-old-neighbor, a pair of shovels, and her trusty pickup, embarking on an unusual mission that calls into question whether some secrets are better kept buried.
Sharp, watchful, at once thrillingly perceptive and hidden from herself, Agatha is as imposing as the vast landscape her rustic adobe home overlooks. Loosely inspired by the life of Agnes Martin, I Am Agatha introduces us to this irascible, indelible character who learns—over a stretch of strange, singular days—new ways to fathom life, death, and her own heart.
Excerpt
I Am Agatha
The sagebrush hid the reservoir from view until I came upon it. I took off my boots and sat in the shade of a willow tree that trailed its branches into the water. I imagined Alice as a young girl: the cooling evening, her slender wrists dipping into the water to scrub her dress, her mother's impractical pride. Also I thought of myself at the same moment in time, when women gave me odd jobs in exchange for a meal and afterward watched from the porch to be sure I went on my way. I once snuck into a schoolhouse and searched through the lunch pails, my heart twisting at the sound of the children playing outside, their whooping cries moving through me like colorful birds.
Alice pushed through the sagebrush and stepped out of her shoes. She'd brought cornbread wrapped in a cloth and pushed a jar of milk into the mud to keep it cool. The swing of her dress was close enough to touch. But when I reached out my hand, she hesitated and turned away.
We stripped down, she to her ...
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (3/26/2026)
I'm reading 'Lake Effect' by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, so far so good. Last week I read 'I am Agatha' by Nancy Foley - my 3rd! 5-star book in a row after 'Kin' and 'Good People.' 'I am Agatha' is loosely based on a real artist set in New Mexico - a story of love, art, and grief.
-Evonne_Benedict
In her author's note, Foley explains that the novel is loosely inspired by a period in the life of Agnes Martin, a well-known abstract painter who, in 1967, stopped painting and moved from New York City to live a hermit's life in New Mexico. Although her friendship with painter Georgia O'Keeffe and her artistic ambition are mentioned, the story mostly uses the setup of Martin's life to craft a new narrative, focusing mainly on Agatha's relationship with Alice in New Mexico. Agatha is like an onion; as the book unfolds, she slowly peels back her layers, revealing a woman beneath her tough exterior who wants to be appreciated, seen, and cared for, despite her attempts to dismiss those who hurt or disappoint her. Agatha is forced to confront the reality that even though she has strong opinions about how others should live their lives, she can't control those she cares about...continued
Full Review
(1167 words)
(Reviewed by Letitia Asare).
Angie Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Happiness Falls
Surprising and spellbinding, I Am Agatha is a beautiful love story and meditation on grief, memory, art, and the deepest secrets we hold to keep living. Agatha is a narrator for the ages, telling us her story in a powerful voice—lush, sharp, blunt, and lyrical, all at once. And that extraordinary ending! Once I finished, I had to turn back to the beginning to reread and rethink through the whole story again. Antoine Wilson, nationally bestselling author of Mouth to Mouth
Gloriously uncompromising or simply ornery and enigmatic? Nancy Foley's extraordinary Agatha is both—and, she discovers, something else altogether. This fierce and tender novel brilliantly captures how unexpected devotion can crack open even the most stubbornly guarded heart.
In I Am Agatha by Nancy Foley, the protagonist is loosely inspired by the late Agnes Martin, a famed abstract expressionist painter who spent a period of her life in New Mexico, during which the story is set. In 1967, Martin stopped painting and left New York City, then disappeared from public view for 18 months before reappearing in northern New Mexico, where she lived as a hermit for nearly a decade, much like Agatha in the novel. Foley mentions in her author's note that she spent time in the same area during that period. "She built an adobe house at Mesa Portales and lived a hermit's existence for nearly a decade; during that same time, I spent much of my childhood visiting my grandparents in the house where my mother grew up, not ...
If you liked I Am Agatha, try these:
by Melissa Febos
Published 2026
From the national bestselling author of Girlhood, an examination of the solitude, freedoms, and feminist heroes Melissa Febos discovered during a year of celibacy. A wise and transformative look at relationships and self-knowledge.
by Elizabeth Strout
Published 2025
From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout comes a hopeful, healing novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
by Olga Tokarczuk
Published 2020
In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans.
To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!