The novel follows the story of Jean Burnes, a young Sydney woman with dreams of becoming a novelist.
Some of the characters are too evidently the creations of youthful inexperience, and are not likely to be acceptable to men and women of the world who know their species from constant contact with the many varieties under the ever-changing conditions of life.
"[1] Commenting on the re-issue of the book in 1993 Veronica Sen in The Canberra Times notes: "Surprisingly advanced in its asides on female role conditioning and the different valuing of male and female behaviour, this 1896 novella is otherwise a fairly standard romance.
Mack treats with irony the triumph of love between the young heroine and her deliberately blind successful suitor, despite its foundation on vanity and falsehood.
Had the author cultivated her obvious satiric gifts, her career might have been as brilliant as that of Miles Franklin.