An acute­ly drawn nov­el about one woman’s quest for authen­tic­i­ty and the seduc­tive pow­er of break­ing with con­ven­tion, set against the Ortho­dox Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ties of L.A. Rina Kirsch is an exhaust­ed young moth­er and mod­ern Ortho­dox Jew in the Pico-Robert­son neigh­bor­hood of Los Ange­les. Duti­ful­ly keep­ing to the expec­ta­tions of a tra­di­tion­al house­hold con­nects Rina with gen­er­a­tions past and future.

But a con­tra­dic­tion burns at her cen­ter: Rina is an athe­ist.

She is also stymied in her life and mar­riage. Rina’s hus­band con­vinces her to par­take in a night of wife-swap­ping. The swap plunges Rina down a heady path that begins with a rekin­dled pas­sion for paint­ing and cul­mi­nates in an intox­i­cat­ing affair with Will, her mar­ried Mex­i­can Amer­i­can art teacher. Rina must decide if it’s worth sac­ri­fic­ing every­thing she’s ever known to inhab­it the unchart­ed land­scape unfold­ing before her, one where her needs take prece­dence. Told in the fevered tenor com­mon to lust and reli­gious devo­tion, Olive Days is an unfor­get­table sto­ry of the ago­niz­ing choic­es women make to bal­ance duty against desire.