Career
After leaving teaching in 1972, she turned to writing.Most of her novels address "sexual desire and the family", exploring "the relationship between sexual behaviour and social organisation; the anarchic nature of desire and the orderly force of the institution of 'family'; the similarities and differences between collective households and nuclear families; the significance and the language of housework; and the idea of 'the house"as image, symbol, site and peace."Craven comments that Garner is "always an extremely accurate writer in terms of the emotional states she depicts"
Throughout her career Garner continued to write journalism, writing a history of the Melbourne theater company La Mama and also commenting on a wide range of cultural issues.