Olivia (Rossner novel) Olivia (Rossner novel) Olivia (or, The Weight of the Past) is the penultimate novel by Judith Rossner, author of the critically acclaimed best sellers "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" and "August". Published in 1994 by Crown, "Olivia" examines "a mother-daughter conflict set in the world of gastronomy." Caroline Sindler is a chef and popular cooking teacher. In flashback, she recounts her past life: after showing an early interest, she learns to cook. After dropping out of college, she travels to Italy, where she finds work in a restaurant, and meets Angelo, a Sicilian in his thirties. After becoming pregnant by him,
Looking for Mr. Goodbar sparked her interest, that of schoolteacher Roseann Quinn who had been brutally slain in January 1973 by a man she had purportedly picked up in a singles bar. In the end, "Esquire", fearing legal ramifications, declined to publish the article, so Rossner decided to write a novel instead. "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" was published by Simon & Schuster on June 2, 1975, to positive reviews. Carol Eisen Rinzler, in "The New York Times", said the book was "a complex and chilling portrait of a woman's descent into hell... full of insight and intelligence and illumination." "Time" magazine wrote, "it is