A common theme running through her work involves a female character "who is thrust out on her own from a sheltered environment into a vaguely hostile external world with which she is initially unprepared to cope. Her coming to terms with this hostile world provides the fictional interest of [her] novels."
A common theme in her writing involves a female character who is isolated from a sheltered environment and thrust into an unfamiliar, potentially hostile world that she struggles to adapt to. Her journey of learning to navigate this hostile environment forms the core of her novels.