“Whenever I’m asked if the drug use is fictional,” Madievsky tells me, “I always say, ‘It’s fictional! So fictional!’”

You’d never guess that the characters in her debut novel, “ All-Night Pharmacy,” blaze a trail across L.A.’s bar scene under a haze of benzos, opioids and psychedelics, risking death or degradation at every turn. Sitting at her dining room table in her tidy Santa Monica apartment, the author exudes serenity as she discusses juggling her job as a clinical pharmacist with her writing career while her 3-month-old infant naps in the next room. Ruth Madievsky doesn’t seem to have a high tolerance for risk. If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores.