Molly Keane (born Mary Nesta Skrine, 20 July 1904 – 22 April 1996) was an Irish writer.

She went to a boarding school in Bray, County Wicklow, married one of a Waterford squirearchical family in 1938 and had two daughters, Sally and Virginia. Between 1928 and 1956, she wrote under the pseudonym M.J. Farrell. 

Awards

• Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize (1981), for the novel Good Behaviour

Books

Novels as “M. J. Farrell”:

• The Knight of Cheerful Countenance (1926)
• Young Entry (1928)
• Taking Chances (1929)
• Mad Puppetstown (1931)
• Conversation Piece (1932)
• Devoted Ladies (1934)
• Full House (1935)
• The Rising Tide (1937)
• Two Days in Aragon (1941)
• Loving Without Tears (1951)
• Treasure Hunt (1952)

Plays (as “M.J. Farrell”):

• Spring Meeting (1938). Filmed in 1941
• Ducks and Drakes (1942)
• Treasure Hunt (1949). Filmed in 1952
• Dazzling Prospect (1961)

Novels as “Molly Keane”:

• Good Behaviour (1981)
• Time After Time (1983)
• Loving and Giving (1988) (alternatively titled Queen Lear)