Annie Keary
Annie Keary was a notable English author born on March 3, 1825, in Yorkshire. Growing up as the youngest child in a family with a diverse background—her father was an Irish soldier turned rector and her mother hailed from an upper-class English family—Keary faced challenges such as hearing impairment that influenced her education and writing. She developed a passion for storytelling early in life, crafting imaginative tales for her siblings and later publishing works for children, including "Little Wanderlin, and Other Fairy Tales" and "Sidney Grey, a Tale of School Life."
Keary's personal experiences, including the loss of caretaking responsibilities for her brother's children and a broken engagement, deeply impacted her writing. She sought solace in her work, producing novels that resonated with adult readers, such as "Castle Daly: The Story of an Irish Home Thirty Years Ago," which drew on her father's memories of Ireland. She collaborated with her sister to create "Heroes of Asgard," introducing Scandinavian myths to a young audience, which became significant in Victorian literature. Despite health challenges, Keary continued to write until her death on March 3, 1879, and her works remain appreciated for their cultural contributions, particularly in making complex literary themes accessible to children.
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Annie Keary
Writer
- Born: March 3, 1825
- Birthplace: Bilton Rectory, near Wetherby, Yorkshire, England
- Died: March 3, 1879
- Place of death: Eastbourne, England
Biography
Annie Keary was born on March 3, 1825, at Bilton Rectory, close to Wetherby, in Yorkshire, England. Her father, William Keary, was a native of County Galway, Ireland, and had been a soldier before joining the clergy and becoming a parish rector. Her mother, Lucy Plumer Keary, was from a privileged English family. The youngest child, Keary grew up in Hull with one sister and four brothers, creating imaginary characters and fantastical stories.
Because her hearing was impaired, Keary studied primarily at home, briefly taking lessons at a boarding school and a dame’s school. She closely watched people, developing skills to write detailed descriptions. When she was fifteen, Keary accompanied her father to Nunnington, where he recovered from an illness. That village inspired her first book, Mia and Charlie: Or, A Week’s Holiday at Rydale Rectory.
Keary fell in love with a man to whom she became engaged. Concurrently, she tended her widowed brother’s children, becoming attached to them and creating stories and fairy tales for entertainment. She compiled those tales into a book, Little Wanderlin, and Other Fairy Tales, published several years later. She wrote other books for children, including such well-received volumes as Sidney Grey, a Tale of School Life.
After her brother remarried, he removed his children from Keary’s care. Devastated by that loss, she was further emotionally wounded when her fiancé ended their engagement. Becoming ill, the fragile Keary traveled to Egypt in the autumn of 1858, hoping to heal her broken heart and health. Evaluating her religious and personal beliefs, Keary immersed herself in writing to express her feelings.M
Her novels for adult readers became popular, especially Castle Daly: The Story of an Irish Home Thirty Years Ago, serialized in Macmillan’s Magazine. That novel was set in Ireland even though Keary had not traveled there, but she relied on her father’s memory to create details. She also wrote a history of Egypt for children. Keary and her sister, Eliza Keary, collaborated on Heroes of Asgard and the Giants of Jotunheim: Or, The Christmas Week and Its Story, a book for young readers that featured mythical figures from Scandinavian legends.
Keary frequently stayed and wrote at locations along the Riviera where the mild climate comforted her during a prolonged sickness, which some biographers hypothesized was cancer. She died at Eastbourne, England, on March 3, 1879, the day she turned fifty-four. At the time of her death, Keary was writing A Doubting Heart, which another author finished for publication.
Modern anthologists have selected Keary’s work as significant representations of Victorian literature. Scholars emphasized that the Keary sisters’ Heroes of Asgard was significant for presenting Norse myths in a format accessible to children, which had not been previously available. That book continued to be printed through the early twenty-first century due to its enduring quality. Readers consistently purchased large numbers of Keary’s books, resulting in them being reprinted. Her sister, Eliza, wrote Memoir of Annie Keary, published in 1882, and edited and collected her correspondence in the book Letters of A. K., published the following year.