Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

A darkly comic and intensely visceral work of contemporary literary fiction, Melissa Broder’s Milk Fed explores the complex intersections of physical appetite, maternal trauma, and queer awakening. The novel follows Rachel, a twenty-four-year-old Los Angeles talent agency employee who has turned caloric restriction into her personal religion to maintain a rigid illusion of control. Urged by her therapist to undergo a ninety-day communication 'detox' from her toxic, diet-obsessed mother, Rachel’s life shifts dramatically when she meets Miriam, a young, plus-size Orthodox Jewish woman who works at her local frozen yogurt shop. As Miriam intentionally begins to feed her, Rachel is swept into a consuming infatuation that blurs the lines between spiritual longing, emotional healing, and intense sapphic sexual desire.