Kenneth Maynard

Kenneth Maynard was a British author who combined his writing with a career at the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. One of eleven children — ten boys and one girl — he spent three years with his family in New Zealand before returning to England in 1971 and settling in Sandwich, Kent, where he worked for Pfizer for the remainder of his life.

Away from writing, Maynard was a passionate gardener with a particular enthusiasm for fuchsias. Together with his wife, Pauline, he founded a local fuchsia club. The couple remained married and lived in Deal, Kent, until Kenneth's death from leukaemia in 1986, aged just 52.

Maynard was part of a notably literary family: his brother Richard also became a published author in Australia. Kenneth's family included four grandchildren, two of whom — Oscar and Kit — were born after his death.