Short Fiction · Character

Con Donovan

Little Con Donovan, a boy whose encounter with the fairies turns a moonlit road home into something far older and colder than childhood.

supporting

Also known as Con, little Con, Donovan, Con Donovan

First appearance: The Child That Went with the Fairies

As a supporting figure in Short Fiction, Con Donovan is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Con, one of the older children playing on the road when Billy is taken.

In the storyThe Child That Went with the FairiesOpen this moment free

See Con Donovan in The Child That Went with the Fairies Book page

Free preview opens at this moment — character cards, Character Web, and themes sit beside the text as you read.

Con Donovan moves through a world where the supernatural is not a metaphor but a neighbor — glimpsed at bridges, heard in the snorting of horses, felt in the freezing of the blood. His youth makes him vulnerable, but it also makes him a reliable witness, since he has not yet learned what he is supposed to disbelieve. His story gives the collection one of its purest folk-horror notes, where terror arrives without explanation and leaves without apology.

Continue beside the text

The fuller portrait of Con Donovan sits in Reading Lens — open the free preview to keep reading with notes on the page.

See Con Donovan in The Child That Went with the Fairies

Character Web

52 connections

A slice of how Con Donovan sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Friendship
Social
Other

Character groups

Ghost story narrators
Haunting family histories
Supernatural encounters
Diverse ghostly witnesses
Protagonist

+47 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

This is the story's dramatic climax because it marks the psychological peak of the narrator's horror and the r…

Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.

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Relationships

Hardress Fitzgerald
friendship · positive
Con Donovan and Hardress Fitzgerald are close companions, often involved in shared… How this plays out →
Mr. Purcell
social · ambivalent
Mr. Purcell
social · ambivalent
Hardress Fitzgerald
friendship · positive
Con Donovan and Hardress Fitzgerald are close companions, often involved in shared… How this plays out →
Mr. Purcell
social · ambivalent
Hardress Fitzgerald
friendship · positive
Con Donovan and Hardress Fitzgerald are close companions, often involved in shared… How this plays out →

Hardress Fitzgerald
Con Donovan and Hardress Fitzgerald are close companions, often involved in shared adventures or schemes.
Mr. Purcell
Con Donovan and Mr. Purcell are acquaintances, likely meeting through local social circles.
Mr. Purcell
Con Donovan and Mr. Purcell are acquaintances, likely meeting through local social circles.
Hardress Fitzgerald
Con Donovan and Hardress Fitzgerald are close companions, often involved in shared adventures or schemes.
Mr. Purcell
Con Donovan and Mr. Purcell are acquaintances, likely meeting through local social circles.
Hardress Fitzgerald
Con Donovan and Hardress Fitzgerald are close companions, often involved in shared adventures or schemes.

Relationship notes

How these ties play out is in the reading companion — open the free preview.

See Con Donovan in The Child That Went with the Fairies

In the story

Con Donovan appears across 2 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Chapter companion notes

Spoil-light check-ins for Con Donovan unlock in the free preview.

See Con Donovan in The Child That Went with the Fairies