[1] It is the first text to create "an articulate and educated black woman narrator,"[2] and "one of the most compelling works of short fiction in French and a startlingly modern commentary on race.

"[3] The novella covers the time before, during, and after the French Revolution and addresses key themes of race, nationality, exile, interracial love and kinship and the psychological adjustment to these.

She was the close friend of François-René de Chateaubriand, whom she had met in exile in London, and who helped her in publishing this story among others [citation needed] .

The novel opens from the point of view of a doctor, who has been called to treat a dying young nun in a convent.

Ourika begins by relating how she was "saved" from the slave trade as an infant by the governor of Senegal, and brought back to Paris as a gift for Madame de B.

She is raised well, according to the standards for white Parisian girls of high society-she is taught to sing by the best voice coaches, instructed in painting by a famous artist, is well-read and is accomplished in many languages.

However, he does not realize she is in love with him, and ends up marrying a young heiress, Anaïs de Thèmines, whose family have been killed by the French Revolutionaries.