Philippa Northeast is the newest Sybylla in Netflix's My Brilliant Career adaptation. (Supplied: Netflix)
My Brilliant Career is a story that has stayed with actress Philippa Northeast for years.
Northeast rediscovered the 1901 Miles Franklin novel as a teenager, after her mother first read it to her when she was a child.
"I was [about] 10, and illiterate," Northeast told ABC News.
"[I was] way too young to be having this book read to [me] … but what it did establish in me from a young age is this is a really important book to my mum."
Northeast says her mother was overcome with emotion when she got the role. (Supplied: Netflix)
Northeast (Territory, The Newsreader) plays Sybylla in the upcoming Netflix series, a young woman who wants to be a writer, while her family is determined to marry her off.
She breaks every convention as she looks for a story that will allow her to write her way to independence.
The tension comes when she falls in love. Will she marry, or risk it all for a creative life?
"And that's been more than iconic; it's so incredibly essential, and that was the case with my mum."
Northeast was speaking to ABC News at an intimate luncheon celebrating the series, which is out on Thursday.
She says when she landed the role of Sybylla, there was one person she knew she had to call straight away.
"And then she rang back later to say that she just had to cry in the car and have her own moment with the information I'd given her."
My Brilliant Career has been adapted for stage and screen before, including Gillian Armstrong's 1979 film starring Judy Davis as Sybylla and Sam Neill as suitor Harry Beecham.
There was an outpouring of tributes when Neill died suddenly last month. He was 78.