Love my SR9 and it's just a 1.1. She should learn all about it here and spend some quality time with it and you both will be just as satisfied as I am with more than 1,500 rounds downrange. I think you'll both find that even as a full-sized gun it's a concealable pistol and the light weight and great ergonomics make it a real pleasure to own and shoot. It's just a super-controllable, comfortable, safe, high-value gun.
She probably won't ever have to sleep with it under her pillow but I have done that with mine on a couple of occasions (because of the reasons I bought it for) and I have never had the slightest concern about its safety doing that *or* its shootability should I have to.
She may find that the slide is stiff initially and the serrations are sharp. The remedy for that is some dry firing and practice slingshotting the slide, putting a little more "snap" in her action, and some range time. You don't have to "nurse" the slide - grasp it firmly and pull with some snap and velocity to overcome the static friction. It will ease up. Good luck, great choice!
