Ms Fox lived and worked in Daylesford for 11 years before moving to Kyneton. 

The idea for Mine came to her in a dream. 

“I was holding a baby in my arms with a group of people gathered around me. I told them it was not my baby but nobody believed me,” Ms Fox said.

“It was very frightening. I was shaken. The dream lingered for weeks. It was haunting so I tried to re-create that sense in my book.”

Ms Fox was surprised by the number of baby swaps during her research.

The numbers indicate a mix-up of one in every thousand babies. 

She said she also wrote the book to discuss the recurring themes presented to her as a GP, like women feeling they are failing at motherhood.

While writing, she heard many cases of babies being mixed up in hospitals but says it is less common now.

The novel, which took her six years to write, has been picked up internationally and optioned for film. 

Ms Fox will continue writing in the medical thriller genre.