In a mosaic of 240 fragments, inspired by Maggie Nelson’s cult classic Bluets, Ilse Josepha Lazaroms explores the depths and multiplicity of the color ocher, weaving together themes of friendship, heartbreak, transformation, trauma, and home. She writes about the sudden breakup of a love affair and of her experiences as a scholar in Israel and Palestine. She questions the relationship between identity and community, the shifting boundaries between self and other, grounding her narrative in a place in the Judean Desert, located largely in the occupied West Bank, where the sea level is at zero and the only way forward is down, toward the deepest point on earth—the Dead Sea.

Ocher is a personal essay on the oldest pigment on earth. The color of the first inscriptions on rock walls, of sandstone, ruins and the desert, of the scorching sun and the violence of the Middle East. A layered, poetic meditation on memory, desire, and the fragile balance between beauty and loss, Ocher offers a humane portrait of the author’s relationships with the different inhabitants of one of the world’s most conflicted regions.

Praise:

“A poetic narrative about the oldest pigment on earth. Threading through love, landscape, and longing. Lazaroms casts a spell through vivid imagery, sharp ideas, and the care with which she crafts each sentence with equal beauty.” —Best Books 2025, NRC

“…the author’s categorically open and self-deprecating disposition made this little gem a breath of fresh air. … I was completely won over.” —Bruno’s Boeken

“Lazaroms reflects – and makes us reflect. On love and pain. On a personal and a societal level. Beautiful.” —Hebban