My Brilliant Career

Franklin, Miles. My Brilliant Career, Pymble N.S.W. : HarperCollins, 2001.

Set in rural Australia in the 1890s, My Brilliant Career follows the aspirations and frustrations of a young woman, Sybylla Melvyn, who is constrained by middle-class social arrangements, especially the pressure to marry. Owing to her family’s adverse financial situation, Sybylla is initially sent to live with her grandmother. However, she is later sent to work as a governess/housekeeper for the family of neighbour to whom her father owes money. Miles Franklin wrote a sequel called My Career Goes Bung which was not published until 1946.