While her peers venture off in giggling groups to Asia and South America, Lila Ruth decides her gap year will be different. Wounded by a tumultuous final year of school, and craving independence and transformation, she plans to live on a kibbutz. She pictures days spent out in the hot desert sun; evenings singing songs around a campfire; sleeping under the stars. A summer of hard, honest work that will leave her burnished and lean and resilient. On arrival in Israel Lila Ruth soon realises that her romantic idea of connection to the land and to the people of this place was naïve at best, and shamefully ignorant at worst. Chagrined but unwilling to retreat, she determines to stay. Desperate for meaning and salvation, she falls in love - and must finally reckon with the choices she's made. A nuanced, blistering portrait of the growing pains of young womanhood, set against a backdrop of conflict and volatility, The Book of Lila Ruth is an unforgettable exploration of the consequences of choosing to look away.