The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue: From the author of global sensation AS LONG AS THE LEMON TREES GROW
Zoulfa Katouh, whose debut novel 'As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow' found readers across the world, returns with a young adult story that is quietly devastating and, ultimately, full of light. At its heart is Jihad, a girl trying to rebuild her life after losing her mother. A transfer to a prestigious new school feels like it might offer breathing room, but what she finds there is something closer to suffocation. As the only Muslim student, she is scrutinised for her hijab, her name, even her silence. Suspicion hangs in the air, unspoken but unmistakable. It's lonely in a way that feels very true to life. One classmate offers her something that looks like kindness, though whether to trust it is another matter entirely. Meanwhile, grief does what grief does: it narrows everything. Jihad turns to an old sketchbook, one thick with memories of her mother, and it's there, in the act of drawing and remembering, that something begins to shift. What starts as private comfort slowly grows into something with a little more weight to it. Katouh writes about Muslim identity with specificity and care, and the novel handles prejudice without reducing it to a simple lesson. The art itself becomes a genuine presence in the story, not just a metaphor, but a means of reclaiming a sense of self. Readers who enjoy coming-of-age fiction with emotional honesty, and who want stories where identity and belonging are treated with real seriousness, will find this absorbing and, at times, genuinely affecting. It lingers.
- Author: Zoulfa Katouh
- Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
- Genre: Contemporary Fiction
- ISBN: 978-1526648587
- Pages: 352 pages