Losing February describes, in sometimes disturbingly graphic detail, what happens when a strong, energetic, capable woman completely loses her sense of self and mistakes grief for punishment.

Bernie hadn’t been looking for love. Recently divorced, she has her children, her writing and her house on a hill near Byron Bay.

Then Jack comes back into her life. What starts as the reunion of two old friends turns into an intense affair. Their love is fuelled by the fevered exchange of emails and texts. Bernie is free, but Jack is married and it soon becomes clear he won’t leave his family to follow his heart.

Bernie seeks solace in the strange world of internet chatrooms, where she encounters men hungry for her in a way that Jack is not.

Virtual sex is addictive and it’s never enough. Before long, Bernie is meeting up with her online pursuers, and engaging in acts of increasingly deviant and dangerous sex — whatever it takes to feel desired.

How does a woman in her 40s fall down so far and can she rise up?