It's 1908, and Katie Beauchamp is bored out of her mind in New Zealand. She's desperate to leave home, and has a burning ambition to be a writer. Her parents' bitter opposition can't stop her – at the age of nineteen she arrives in London with a small allowance and big dreams.
The next year of her life will change everything. In one year, Katie Beauchamp becomes Katherine Mansfield, and out of first love, disgrace and heartbreak she forges the stories that will begin her career as a writer. One hundred years later Katherine Mansfield is still New Zealand's most famous writer. This is the story of her brave, scandalous and triumphant beginning.