Book excerpt: Sybylla, strong-headed and capable, lived her sixteen years of life in the Australian outback, in poverty. She fondly remembers her younger years, including her parents' concern about her not being very feminine. At the age of ten, her life changes dramatically: bankruptcy, drought and humiliation bring her and her family to the brink of poverty. At fifteen, Sybylla is invited to her grandmother's estate and there she takes up hobbies such as music, books and art. She also falls in love and experiences for the first time the joy and pain that love can bring...