A chance encounter between a penniless young woman in search of her missing brother and a hobo burdened with a big secret takes both on a journey to Chicago’s glamorous yet crime-ridden 1920s, where prostitution, bootlegging, and corruption rule. Separated by fate and reunited by chance, WHERE THE NIGHT NEVER ENDS is an unforgettable tale of courage and perseverance, a tribute to the triumph of hope and love against all odds.
When feisty and headstrong Samantha Bruno loses her mother in a freak accident, she decides to search for her brother, Angelo, who didn’t return from a business trip to Chicago seven months earlier. It is the year 1924, the height of prohibition, and the city of Cincinnati is in the midst of a deep recession.
Narrowly escaping a band of thugs, Sam meets Paul, a mysterious hobo with a big secret. Together they embark on a harrowing journey to Chicago, where Al Capone is building an empire.
Just when it seems their friendship is blossoming into something more, a raid tears Sam and Paul apart. Sam is sold into a brothel while Paul is arrested. Trapped without money and desperate to escape her new profession, Sam realizes she is on her own. Not only to free herself and search for her brother among Chicago’s three million residents, but also to do the impossible—find Paul.
During his hearing, Paul learns that his father, a wealthy Chicago inventor, is on his deathbed. The judge, an old family friend, gives Paul an ultimatum. See your father or go to jail. Reluctantly, Paul returns home, where he finds that his decision to run away seven years earlier was based on a terrible mistake.
Narrated in alternating chapters by Sam and Paul, with rich historical detail, complex characters, and stunning prose, award-winning author Annette Oppenlander once again delivers a touching novel that lets us imagine what it was like to live and love during the roaring 1920s.
Sam’s mother has died, and she needs to find her brother Angelo, who has been missing for months after a business trip to Illinois. To search for her brother, she must travel from Cincinnati to Chicago, a very dangerous place during Prohibition in 1924. Sam meets a hobo named Paul who, it turns out, actually knows Angelo, though doesn’t equate Sam with him. Paul gives Sam an education in life on the run, helping her survive and disguising her as a boy. When the pair arrive in Chicago, they are separated when Paul is arrested in a police raid. Upon learning of his father’s approaching death, Paul is given an opportunity to lead a different type of life, which forces him to realize how important Sam has become in his world.
Despite the ban on booze, there are plenty of illegal bootlegging sites and hidden clubs where drink, prostitution, and drugs are popular. Sam meets some seemingly friendly characters, including a love interest. She is determined to find Angelo by first finding Al Capone, the gangster controlling most of the illegal activity in Chicago.
The rest of the story is easy to predict, but what will grab readers’ attention are the heartfelt connections the supposedly “low” characters around Sam make with her, as well as with each other. The story is replete with plenty of action, danger, sex, mystery and adventure – a depiction of a historical era when alcohol’s illegality bred a world of passion and violence. This is a remarkable read that explores the levels of good and evil to be found in human beings.
