A semi-autobiographical novel by an early feminist New Zealand author, Ellen E. Ellis. The character Wrax is a debased version of the author's husband Oliver, and Zee a weaker version of Ellen. Ellis uses this novel as a vehicle for her views about education, marriage, birth control, prohibition, religion, and female and Maori rights. All these issues are linked to her central concern, the emancipation of women, the novel pre-empting all the central early feminist arguments. Ellis' broad contention is that women need to be emancipated in order to do their 'God-given work' which is to 'bless mankind' and 'fulfil the divine plan of the universe'. She is specific as to the three areas in which emancipation is required, protesting against the spiritual and intellectual oppression of women, the legal oppression of women, and the physical oppression of women.