Ourika

About the book

"Ourika" by Claire de Duras is a novel published in 1823. A young enslaved girl is rescued from the slave trade and raised in aristocratic Parisian society. Educated and cultured, she lives unaware of racial barriers until a devastating conversation forces her to confront how the world sees her. As she falls in love with someone beyond her reach, she must navigate a society that cannot see past her skin color. This groundbreaking work depicts the first complex black woman narrator in French literature.