You are holding a small and revolutionary literary treasure that few people know about. This is a novella that was first published in 1823, in a private and limited edition, became the bestseller of its time a year later, and then was forgotten: swallowed up by history that edits itself in incomprehensible ways. Ourika is the first black heroine in French literature. We are in a turbulent political period when everyone is talking about freedom, shortly before the revolution. Ourika arrives in France after being rescued from the slave ship she was put on in Senegal, and grows up - seemingly as an equal - among an aristocratic French family. She is gentle and educated, clever and sensitive. However, Parisian reality and prejudices are far from reflecting aspirations for equality, and Ourika is forced to live as if imprisoned within her own body, without the possibility of integrating into society, or finding a partner like her. This is a novella that is full of modern subtlety and wisdom. The work was admired by figures such as Goethe, Stendhal, and Victor Hugo, and is now presented for the first time in Hebrew, more relevant than ever, and eager to meet you in the present tense, which sometimes does not seem so different from the nineteenth century. Afterword by: Reut Ben Yaakov