My Brilliant Career
Written when Miles Franklin was still a teenager and published in 1901, this fierce, funny novel gave Australian literature one of its first great heroines. Sybylla Melvyn is poor, plain by her own account, and bursting with ambition on a drought-stricken bush property in 1890s New South Wales. When the wealthy and good-natured Harold Beecham offers marriage and comfort, she balks, unwilling to trade her dreams of writing and independence for any man’s household. Part comedy, part protest, the book reads as a young woman’s argument with the only future her world was prepared to imagine for her. Franklin drew heavily on her own upbringing. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available here.
About the Author
Miles Franklin (1879-1954) was an Australian writer and feminist, born Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin in New South Wales. My Brilliant Career, written in her teens, made her name. She later worked for reform causes abroad and endowed the Miles Franklin Award, Australia’s leading literary…
See all books by Miles Franklin →
Listen to My Brilliant Career Audiobook Free
Listen to My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin free online. The full audiobook (9 hr 13 min, 39 chapters, read by volunteer narrators) streams free on this page.
My Brilliant Career (1901) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preface and Introduction | 5:19 | |
| 2 | I Remember, I Remember | 7:51 | |
| 3 | An Introduction to Possum Gully | 6:55 | |
| 4 | A Lifeless Life | 10:02 | |
| 5 | A Career which soon Careered to an End | 9:41 | |
| 6 | Disjointed Sketches and Grumbles | 15:52 | |
| 7 | Revolt | 14:58 | |
| 8 | Was e’er A Rose without its Thorn? | 19:50 | |
| 9 | Possum Gully Left Behind. Hurrah! Hurrah! | 19:04 | |
| 10 | Aunt Helen’s Recipe | 14:44 | |
| 11 | Everard Grey | 17:04 | |
| 12 | Yah! | 17:41 | |
| 13 | One Grand Passion | 13:13 | |
| 14 | He | 19:20 | |
| 15 | Principally Letters | 13:50 | |
| 16 | When the Heart is Young | 13:07 | |
| 17 | When Fortune Smiles | 20:24 | |
| 18 | Idylls of Youth | 27:36 | |
| 19 | As Short as I Wish had been the Majority of Sermons to which I have been Forced to give Ear | 6:53 | |
| 20 | The 9th of November 1896 | 20:21 | |
| 21 | Same Yarn (Cont.) | 22:23 | |
| 22 | My Unladylike Behaviour Again | 12:35 | |
| 23 | Sweet Seventeen | 17:40 | |
| 24 | Ah, for one Hour of Burning Love, ’tis Worth an Age of Cold Respect! | 16:13 | |
| 25 | Thou Knowest not What a Day May Bring Forth | 8:49 | |
| 26 | Because? | 9:40 | |
| 27 | Boast not Thyself of Tomorrow | 20:11 | |
| 28 | My Journey | 7:58 | |
| 29 | To Life | 15:45 | |
| 30 | To Life (Cont.) | 25:56 | |
| 31 | Where Ignorance is Bliss, ’tis Folly to be Wise | 13:48 | |
| 32 | Mr M’Swat and I have a Bust-up | 14:59 | |
| 33 | Ta-ta to Barney’s Gap | 6:17 | |
| 34 | Back at Possum Gully | 10:17 | |
| 35 | But Absent Friends are Soon Forgot | 14:55 | |
| 36 | The 3rd. of December 1898 | 11:02 | |
| 37 | Once Upon a Time, when the Days were Long and Hot | 17:39 | |
| 38 | He that Despises Little Things shall Fall Little by Little | 8:09 | |
| 39 | A Tale that is Told, and a Day that is Done | 5:24 |
Prefer reading? Read My Brilliant Career online free or download the PDF and EPUB above.
