First published in 1901, &quot;My Brilliant Career&quot; is Miles Franklin&rsquo;s debut and most acclaimed work, an early romantic novel by this popular Australian author.<br /><br />&quot;My Brilliant Career&quot; 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.<br /><br />Like most first novels, &quot;My Brilliant Career&quot; draws heavily on its author&rsquo;s experience, and its verisimilitude was such that contemporaries judged it as a factual rather than fictional autobiography.