Ourika

"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.

Ourika, by duchesse de Claire de Durfort Duras. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #49315.