Dreams in Ash

Dreams in Ash is a Historical Fiction novel centered on the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, as seen through the eyes of a Chicago firefighter and his family. The novel explores the socioeconomic challenges facing Irish Immigrants in 1871, with a special focus on xenophobia and misogyny before, during, and after the fire.

The long- hot summer and fall of 1871 has left Chicago a tinderbox; both literally and figuratively. Like millions of fellow Irishmen, Firefighter Shawn Collins brought his family to America in search of a better life. Rather than the idyllic New World they dreamed of, they found poverty, crowded tenements, crime, and deep-rooted prejudice. Fighting to hold his family together, Sean desperately tries to reason with Maggie, his disenchanted wife, who dreams of nothing but escaping the city. Poverty has made his son (Liam) cynical of everything his father believes in, and the lure of easy money is drawing him under the spell of a ruthless mob boss. Sean's only source of happiness is a young widow and her daughters, a love he cannot have but finds ever harder to resist. All comes to a crisis with the first spark of the Great Chicago Fire. More than a city will burn on October 8, 1871; the hopes and dreams of thousands will go to ash. A mix of raw human drama and an epic thriller, this work of historical fiction dramatically explores the struggles of 19th-century Irish immigrants, as they try to survive one of history's most destructive fires.