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Jessica Elisheva Emerson
Olive Days
out now!
Winner of the GLCA New Writers Award
Finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize's Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction (prize awarded April 2025)
"Stunning, steamy, and unique."
-People Magazine, from its Must-Read Fall 2024 list
"Emerson’s first novel deftly captures the longings of a woman trapped between passion and obligation."
-Washington Post
"I haven't read a book in a long time that made my jaw drop like Olive Days..."
-Marion Winik, NPR
"Begging to be discussed."
-PureWow
“Intense, uninhibited [. . .] this bold debut is unlike anything you’ve seen before.”
-Kirkus Reviews
“…Emerson’s effervescent debut
[. . .] is titillating and thought-provoking in equal measure.”
-Publisher’s Weekly
Jessica's award-winning debut novel Olive Days from Counterpoint Press (Editor Dan López) is available now! Read reviews, praise, and a synopsis here.
Jessica is an award-winning writer and produced playwright whose stories and poems have been published in numerous journals.
After nearly 23 years in Los Angeles, Jessica returned to her native Sonoran Desert, where she lives with her husband and children. Ask her about pie, Rancho Gordo beans, 1970s singer/songwriters, her challah-braiding technique, or the recipe for a perfect Old Fashioned.
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