Polly O'Keefe

Polly O'Keefe
Polly O'Keefe and Zachary Gray as depicted on the dust jacket of An Acceptable Time
First appearance	The Arm of the Starfish (1965)
Last appearance	An Acceptable Time (1989)
Created by	Madeleine L'Engle
Information
Nickname(s)	Poly, Polly
Aliases	Polyhymnia O'Keefe
Occupation	Student
Relatives	Dr. Calvin O'Keefe and Meg Murry O'Keefe, parents; three maternal uncles and six siblings: Charles, Xan, Den, Peggy, Johnny, and Rosy

Polyhymnia (Polly) O'Keefe is the protagonist of the Madeleine L'Engle novels A House Like a Lotus and An Acceptable Time, and a major character in two previous books, The Arm of the Starfish and Dragons in the Waters. The eldest daughter of Meg Murry O'Keefe and Dr. Calvin O'Keefe, she is born shortly after the events of A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

Like her father, Polly has red hair. In The Arm of the Starfish she ruefully describes her figure as "twenty, twenty, twenty." In A House Like a Lotus she critiques her appearance as "too tall, too thin, not rounded enough for nearly seventeen". Intelligent and widely traveled, Polly speaks numerous languages including Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Russian and a little bit of Dutch. Despite her abilities, Polly has not yet settled on a specific career path, but may have found her calling as of the end of An Acceptable Time.

In A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978, ), Meg is pregnant with Polyhymnia, although the name is not given.

In The Arm of the Starfish (1965, ), Poly (as she is called at the time) is a twelve-year-old girl who has been living with her parents and six younger siblings (Charles, Sandy, Dennys, Peggy, Johnny and Rosy) on the fictional island of Gaea off the coast of Portugal. While returning from the United States with her godfather, Canon Tallis, she meets marine biology student Adam Eddington, and is subsequently kidnapped from an airplane restroom while under Adam's supervision. An enemy of Calvin O'Keefe, industrialist Typhon Cutter, arranges for Adam to "rescue" Poly in a bid to gain Adam's trust and cooperation.