Burnt Olives

By Natasha Girshin

November 2005 - Lance Corporal Evan Rhodes is home, and he shouldn't be.

Twenty-three and medically discharged from his tour in Ramadi, Iraq as a scout sniper with the United States Marine Corps, Evan has to rebuild his life in his dying small town in Illinois.

While the country waves American flags and debates the war, Evan is forced to confront the ghosts that haunt him.

Nothing waits for him except old friends, dead-end jobs, half-empty bars, and the life he left behind. But he's not the only one trying to make sense of what's left. Evan and the community he tries to maintain attempt to shape something more stable than just survival.

Can Evan piece himself back together in a place that no longer feels like home?

Burnt Olives is a contemporary novella about a stunted America, the people sent to fight its wars, and what happens once they come home.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FLY58ZFX
• ISBN13: 9798296611024
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 146 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"