Welcome to Brooklyn, Writer
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the middle daughter of three. My mother was a nurse and my father was a New York City firefighter, as were his three older brothers.
When I was eight, I decided to be an author and began writing a novel on Muppet Stationery. I never did finish it, though I still believe I might, someday.
But I have gone on to publish two novels, Ashes of Fiery Weather and Ghosts of the Missing. I call myself a writer now.
In this newsletter, I will talk about Brooklyn, often through the lens of my family, though not exclusively. I will tell stories of my own, stories I’ve inherited, and those I’ve discovered over the decade I’ve spent researching my family tree.
You will receive Brooklyn, Writer twice a month, on the 1st and the 15th.
My novels:
Ashes of Fiery Weather is about the women of an F.D.N.Y family, from the last night of the city of Brooklyn in 1898, to ten years after September 11.
One of BookRiot’s “100 Must-Read New York City Novels”
“Each element—Donohoe’s attention to women’s experiences, to the momentous events that become historical markers, to place (Brooklyn) and profession (firefighting), to Irishness in its many variations, to inheritance and loss, to the bleeding out of history—makes a constellated portrait of a place and time and position in the world.”
—Brooklyn Magazine
Ghosts of the Missing is about the disappearance of a twelve-year-old girl and her friend’s search for the truth, fifteen years after the fact.
“[An] evocative mystery…Donohoe’s narrative travels liberally between present and past, anchored by her strong Irish-American women. This well-crafted novel will also appeal to literary fiction fans.”
—Publishers Weekly
