Mary Hartley

May Hartley (née Laffan) (3 May 1849 – 23 June 1916) was an Irish realist writer who wrote about Dublin society in the nineteenth century and was considered a pioneer of "slum fiction" in an Irish setting. Career Born on 3 May 1849 to Michael Laffan and Ellen Saran Fitzgibbon in Dublin, Hartley was educated in the Dominican Convent of Sion Hill and Alexandra College. She had an older brother, William, two younger brothers, Michael and James, as well as two younger sisters, Ellen Sarah and Catherine. After school Hartley worked with Fr. Meehan as a social worker in the Liberties. She also began writing with articles such as 'Convent Boarding Schools for Young Ladies' submitted to Fraser's Magazine (June 1874). She began writing novels but her early work was poorly received and she had a breakdown. However she continued to write and publish novels. She was also active in the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children. In 1880 Fannie Gallaher published her early novel Katty the flash: a mould of Dublin mud. It was published under the pseudonym of Sydney Starr. Katty the Flash was successful and it was republished in the New York Sun who attributed their heavily amended story to Laffan.