Soon after arriving, she meets Tom, a young man who can see auras and hear people’s ‘inner songs’. Julia can also hear Tom’s ‘song’, and they are inexorably drawn to each other. Bryant, similarly drawn to Tom, decides to heal his troubled soul. New Age spirituality infuses Milk Fever, at times to the detriment of the narrative. Tom and Julia’s attraction is so heavily linked to spiritual resonance that their eventual relationship seems based on little more than cosmic codependency. This is a pity, because there is much here to suggest that the author understands the complexity of relationships, self-doubt and the past’s influence on the present.

Julia is a particularly well-drawn character: flawed but lovable, passionate but worn down by the demands placed upon her as mother and wife. The other characters serve to colour Julia’s journey rather than to pursue lives of their own. Many locals dart in and out of the narrative, with little relevance to the overall plot. While this bears close resemblance to a typical country town existence, the many introductions clutter an otherwise simple story, often dissipating tension from the central conflicts between the three main characters.

There is still much to like about Milk Fever. It is an easy read and an undoubtedly romantic one, though many readers may find the book’s spiritual core a bit hard to swallow.