A Beginner

the idea of her work being merely slight and sensational. Very often Broughton's women are strong characters and with them she manages to subvert traditional images of femininity. This culminates in A Waif's Progress (1905), in which Broughton creates a married couple who turns everything traditional upside down and the wife fulfills the stereotypes of an older, rich husband. Her other works include Cometh Up as a Flower (1867), Nancy (1873), Doctor Cupid (1886) and A Beginner (1893). In A Beginner, Broughton devices a young writer who has her work secretly published and then later torn apart by unknowing people right in front of her face. The novel deals with the moral issues of writing and whether it is appropriate for a young woman to write romantic or even erotic fiction.