The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue
- Author Zoulfa Katouh
- Narrator Victoria Nassif
- Publisher Hachette Audio
- Publish Date 2 June 2026
- Run Time 11 hours and 47 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Children’s / Teenage fiction: General fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Magical realism, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Death and bereavement, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Emotions, moods and feelings.
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What to expect
From the celebrated author of As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow comes a poignant novel about a Syrian American girl who uses a magical sketchbook to turn her grief into art, painting miraculous murals of her mother’s life in Syria.
Seventeen-year-old Jihad Dabbagh has always seen life with a heightened sense for colors, one of many magical blessings the women in her family possess. But Jihad's gift changes depending on her mood. When depression sets in, the world is a colorless oasis, and in the wake of her mother's sudden death, the world has become a permanent shade of grey.
Broken by tragedy, Jihad's family doesn't believe her color loss. Her father sends her to the elite Braxton Academy to finish her senior year. There, Jihad's name and hijab put a target on her back. Her haven comes in the form of an old sketchbook carved from a tree in her hometown in Syria — a country she only knew through her mother's stories. Jihad hasn't picked up a brush in over a year, but finds herself channeling the colors of her hurt, pain, and grief as she paints the story of her mother's journey in Syria.
When graffiti of that same mural starts magically popping up all over New York, her art goes viral and the world takes notice, the threat of legal consequences is imminent. To reclaim her voice, Jihad will have to paint a new future for herself and Braxton, guided by the resilience of her mother's story.
| Author | Zoulfa Katouh |
|---|---|
| Narrator | Victoria Nassif |
| Duration | 11 hours and 47 minutes |
| Release Date | |
| ISBN | 9781668657515 |
| Format | Audiobook |
| Publisher | Hachette Audio |
| Genre | Children’s / Teenage fiction: General fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Magical realism, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Death and bereavement, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Emotions, moods and feelings |
| Availability | US |
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