My Brilliant Career

First published in 1901, "My Brilliant Career" is Miles Franklin’s debut and most acclaimed work, an early romantic novel by this popular Australian author.

"My Brilliant Career" is the story of Sybylla, a headstrong young girl growing up in early 20th century Australia. Sybylla rejects the opportunity to marry a wealthy young man in order to maintain her independence. As a consequence she must take a job as a governess to a local family to which her father is indebted.

Like most first novels, "My Brilliant Career" draws heavily on its author’s experience, and its verisimilitude was such that contemporaries judged it as a factual rather than fictional autobiography.