Novels about World War II proliferate. In the Mood is not among the best of them, nor the worst. The tale of a woman who has an affair with an American soldier, then has to deal with the fallout, is not particularly original. Originality is hardly a prerequisite for fiction, so this need not have mattered had In the Mood been a riveting read, with a captivating heroine living in vivid postwar Sydney.

Catherine, however, is hard to warm to – not due to any particular readerly dislike, but due to indifference. The same goes for the two men in her life and for the thinly drawn minor characters. As for the story itself, the slow-moving narrative was frustrating. The overuse of exclamation points and misuse of modifiers grated.

It is, however, possible that some readers will not be bothered by these things. If people are partial to romantic postwar tales about women who succumb to temptation, and then have to keep secrets from their returned servicemen husbands, I am sure that they will not be disappointed. Especially if they like the sort where everything goes right in the end.