A repressed English clerk finds her mundane existence transformed when she begins a correspondence with an Australian novelist. Dorothy Peabody, a woman constrained by the care of her demanding, bedridden mother and the monotony of her office work, seeks escape through the letters of Diana Hopewell. As Diana shares chapters of her work-in-progress, Dorothy becomes increasingly obsessed with the fictional characters and the promise of a life beyond her own. The narrative framework shifts between Dorothy's bleak reality and the vibrant, often chaotic world contained within the letters, creating a tension between the observer and the observed.

Readers frequently highlight the sharp, dry wit that permeates the prose, noting how the author balances the protagonist's stifling reality with the imaginative freedom found in the letters. Discussion often centers on the blurred lines between the creator, the creation, and the reader, as Dorothy's life begins to mirror the events described in Diana's fiction. Critics often praise the precise characterization of Miss Peabody, observing how her quiet desperation is rendered with both empathy and irony. The pacing is described as deliberate, allowing the reader to fully inhabit the claustrophobic environment of the protagonist's home life before the narrative expands into the more expansive world of the novel-within-a-novel.