Polyhymnia O'Keefe

Polyhymnia O'Keefe is the protagonist of several of Madeleine L'Engle's books for children and young adults. She is the eldest daughter of Meg Murry and Calvin O'Keefe from A Wrinkle in Time.

Polyhymnia is known as Poly in her first two books, and Polly in the later YA novels: "I've learnt it's best if I spell my nickname with two l's. Poly tends to be pronounced as though it rhymes with pole." (-An Acceptable Time) She is highly intelligent, and a polyglot, speaking Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French, aside from English.

The first two novels about Polly, The Arm of the Starfish and Dragons in the Waters are primarily realistic children's thrillers, although Starfish has some SFnal elements. They are both concerned with environmental and scientific morality, and abuse of such. A House Like A Lotus has an older target audience, being set when Polly is 16, and details her friendship with Maximiliana Horne. An Acceptable Time, the final book about Polly, is set the following summer, and is the the most SF of the books.

Books featuring Polyhymnia O'Keefe

• The Arm of the Starfish (1965)
• Dragons in the Waters (1976)
• A House Like A Lotus (1984)
• An Acceptable Time (1989)