Finally! A new book from Harry Ahearn. Harry’s Ghetto Firefighter
and The Fire Factory were two of the most popular fire books ever published. They
are classics in the field. Now The Donnovans, his new novel, continues Harry’s
saga of FDNY’s fabled Fire Factory.
The Donnovans begins with Patrick Donnovan, a young man who escaped the brutal
poverty of famine-plagued Ireland for the promise of America. After serving
in the Union Army during the Civil War, Patrick became one of the first paid
members of the newly organized New York City Fire Department. Patrick began
his career on Engine 5, a unit located on East 14th Street in Manhattan, was
promoted to lieutenant of Engine 18, and ended his career at Engine 58 in Harlem
– what Patrick Donnovan thought would be a nice quiet company for years and
years.
Well, it wasn’t the first time in his life he was wrong! And the Donnovan
family members who followed in his footsteps on the job proved his error every
single working day and night. Harlem’s Engine 58 and Ladder 26 quickly
became one of FDNY’s busiest firehouses, which meant they were among the
busiest units in the world. It was called “The Fire Factory” and
many of its members became legends on the job.
Harry Ahearn’s The Donnovans is a story of an FDNY family, the saga of
a famed firehouse, and an informal history of the FDNY, from its very beginnings
until the early 1990s. The Donnovans is a book you will enjoy again and again.
