'I am given to something which a man never pardons in a woman. You will
draw away as though I were a snake when you hear.'
With this warning, Sybylla confesses to her rich and handsome suitor
that she is given to writing stories and bound, therefore, on a
brilliant career.
In this ironically titled and exuberant novel by Miles Franklin,
originally published in 1901, Sybylla tells the story of growing up
passionate and rebellious in rural New South Wales, where the most that
girls could hope for was to marry or to teach. Sybylla will do neither,
but that doesn't stop her from falling in love, and it doesn't make the
choices any easier.