Mable Riley dreams of having adventures and of becoming a writer. When she travels far from home to act as assistant to her sister, a schoolmistress, Mable hopes her new world will be full of peril and romance. Her new life, however, is as humdrum as the one she's left behind.

Then Mable encounters the eccentric Mrs. Rattle—a real writer who wears daring fashions and takes delight in scaring off the townfolk by stating her opinions. Mable eagerly accepts Mrs. Rattle's invitation to a meeting of the Ladies Reading Society. But the ladies are not discussing books at all, and Mable soon has more peril and romance than she'd bargained for.

Set during the time of women's early struggles for independence, Marthe Jocelyn's coming-of-age tale about a girl finding her voice—and the courage to make it heard—is as funny as it is inspiring.