Hot Milk

Hot Milk is a 2016 novel by British author Deborah Levy. It follows a young woman named Sofia Papastergiadis who follows her mother, Rose, to Spain to get a diagnosis for an unknown illness that may be psychosomatic in nature. The disease interrupts Sofia’s fledgling adult life so much that she starts to view it as a mechanism of control, and struggles not to resent her mother. While waiting for a diagnosis that may never come, she reconnects with her father, learns about her family’s difficult past, and explores her sexuality. The novel explores the tension between individual freedom and familial responsibility, and acknowledges people’s tendency to make serious moral errors, from which they may or may not ever learn.

The novel opens in Spain. Sofia and Rose have just arrived from England seeking medical expertise at the Gomez Clinic for Rose’s chronic illness. To care for her mother, Sofia has dropped out of her graduate school program. Without a partner, kids, or a job, she feels alienated and behind in life. Her self-dissatisfaction brings her to the brink of despair. One day, Sofia is stung by a jellyfish (or “medusa,” as the townspeople say, in reference to the Greek mythological creature). A medical student in the Gomez Clinic named Juan treats her sting. At the clinic, Sofia hears Rose discuss her health profile with Dr. Gomez. Dr. Gomez clearly suspects that Rose’s illness might be in her head. He also advises Sofia to make bolder choices in her personal and social life.

Sofia meets an enigmatic, charming, and impulsive young woman from Germany named Ingrid. Intrigued by her, Sofia tries out being bold herself. When she encounters a dog whose owner has tied it down and neglected it, she sets it free. She also steals a fish from the fish market. Soon, she develops a romantic attraction to Ingrid; before either of them act upon their feelings, Sofia goes to dinner with Juan, and they have sex afterwards. Later, Sofia begins a sexual relationship with Ingrid as well. Rose continues to see Dr. Gomez for her ailments. While her mother is at the clinic, Sofia visits her estranged father, Christos, in Greece. She has not seen him in a decade, the last time being shortly after her parents’ divorce, and hopes to revive their relationship. Christos introduces her to his second wife Alexandra, and their infant daughter Evangeline.

Sofia ends up getting along better with Alexandra than Christos, and stays for a while in Greece mainly to get to know her. When she leaves, they agree to stay in contact. She feels slightly better about being disconnected from her father. Upon returning to Spain, she continues to see both Juan and Ingrid. Dr. Gomez decides to stop medicating Rose, to ascertain whether she is mentally, not physically, ill. Rose relates that she is not surprised Christos was detached during Sofia’s visit. Rose wishes that her mother was more empathetic.

Seeking a break from her mother, Sofia applies to university in America, where she hopes to be able to resume her graduate studies. Ingrid reveals that she has the capacity to be sadistic and cruel when she relates a memory from childhood, in which she forced her sister underwater and nearly drowned her, letting go only after she was stung by a jellyfish. Though Sofia is disturbed and realizes that Ingrid is likely not the healthiest partner, she stays with her. She gets into an argument with Rose that ends only when Rose starts to express bad symptoms. Believing that her mother is on the verge of death, Sofia finds Dr. Gomez. However, upon returning to the house, Rose is perfectly well. She claims that Dr. Gomez has diagnosed her with a new illness, and that the treatment is working. Sofia suspects that her mother is still lying about an illness that she conjured for herself, but now feels closer to freedom.