author
Mary D. Maitland Kelly
A little-known English author remembered for the children's fantasy novel Peggy's Giant, she wrote under the name Mary D. Maitland Kelly and is also listed as M. D. Hillyard. The scarce record around her adds a touch of mystery to the book she left behind.
1 Audiobook
Peggy's Giant
by Mary D. Maitland Kelly
About the author
Mary D. Maitland Kelly is a little-documented author best known today for Peggy's Giant. Project Gutenberg lists that title under her name and also notes the alias M. D. Hillyard, suggesting she published under more than one form of her name.
Genealogical records point to her as Mary Dorothea Hillyard (1886–1959), an Englishwoman from Devon who married Rev. Evelyn Maitland Kelly in 1919. That makes it likely that the pen name "Mary D. Maitland Kelly" reflects both her birth name and married name.
Because so little biographical information is readily available, what stands out most is the survival of her work rather than a detailed public life story. For readers, that gives Peggy's Giant an added charm: it feels like a rare glimpse of an author whose voice has outlasted the usual biographical record.