From a very early age Annie Keary turned the everyday events of a sheltered Victorian childhood into highly imaginative stories. She published twelve books for children and several domestic and historical novels for adults. Her children's writings include original fairy tales, nature stories, poetry, school stories, myths, history, and tales of everyday life in Victorian England.

Annie Keary was born on 3 March 1825 in Bilton, Yorkshire; she was the daughter of William Keary, an Irish soldier-turned-clergyman, and Lucy Plumer Keary, an English gentlewoman, both of whom encouraged their daughter to exercise her imagination. She was the youngest of six children, with four older brothers and one sister. Eliza Keary's 1882 memoir of her sister relates how some of Annie's fantasy characters became regular companions of their nursery play and later appeared as characters in her children's stories.

Keary spent her childhood in the town of Hull and was educated mostly...