My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin is a semi-autobiographical novel that tells the story of Sybylla Melvyn, a headstrong young woman growing up in rural Australia at the turn of the 20th century. Sybylla struggles against societal expectations, rejecting traditional roles of marriage and domesticity in favor of independence and personal fulfillment. Through her defiance and ambition, the novel addresses themes of feminism, self-determination, and the conflict between personal desire and social convention. This pioneering work by Franklin, written when she was only 16, became a cornerstone of Australian literature and a vital piece of feminist writing.
