Ourika

Based on a true story, this short book is an account of a Senegalese woman who was rescued from slavery as a child and brought up by a French aristocrat in Paris. Reaching adolescence at the time of the French Revolution, she suddenly realises that she will be forever alone. There are two scholarly introductions which explain the background of the author and the manner in which the book was first published - interesting since both the author and the subject matter were somewhat avant-garde. Originally written in French, the novel was translated into English by celebrated English author John Fowles. He also provides a foreword in which he describes how, many years after the event, it dawned on him that Ourika may have subconsciously influenced his bestselling novel The French Lieutenant's Woman. Ourika is a short book that can be read at a single sitting.