The beloved Australian classic, published in a stunning Penguin Clothbound Classics edition for the first timeMiles Franklin’s debut novel follows the vivacious and rebellious sixteen-year-old Sybylla Melvyn – closely modelled on Franklin herself – as she fights to break free of restrictive bush life.Growing up on her parents’ outback farm, Sybylla is desperate to read, write, sing and achieve great things.Yet her aspirations for a ‘brilliant career’ are persistently thwarted, first by the arduous demands of rural family life, and later by the shackles of a proposed conventional marriage to the wealthy Harold Beecham.With only her brilliant, conflicted mind to guide her, Sybylla is forced to define a life on her own terms. My Brilliant Career is acclaimed for capturing the spirit of Australia at the turn of the twentieth century.The struggles of its fiery, precocious protagonist shine a light on the emergent women’s rights and suffrage movement during this period, and memorably evoke the intensity of youth.