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.