The Night of Many Endings: A Novel

Written by Melissa Payne

Narrated by Almarie Guerra, Janet Metzger and Patrick Lawlor

From Melissa Payne, bestselling author of Memories in the Drift, comes an emotionally rich, feel-good novel about hope, second chances, and seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.

Orphaned at a young age and witness to her brother’s decline into addiction, Nora Martinez has every excuse to question the fairness of life. Instead, the openhearted librarian in the small Colorado community of Silver Ridge sees only promise. She holds on to the hope that she’ll be reunited with her missing brother and does what she can at the town library. It’s her home away from home, but it’s also a sanctuary for others who, like her brother, could use a second chance.

There’s Marlene, an elderly loner who believes that, apart from her husband, there’s little good left in the world; Jasmine, a troubled teen; Lewis, a homeless man with lost hope and one last wish; and Vlado, the security guard who loves a good book and, from afar, Nora.

As a winter storm buries Silver Ridge, this collection of lonely hearts takes shelter in the library. They’ll discover more about each other, and themselves, than they ever knew—and Nora will be forced to question her brother’s disappearance in ways she never could have imagined. No matter how stranded in life they feel, this fateful night could be the new beginning they didn’t think was possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Oct 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781713608653

Melissa Payne

Melissa Payne is the bestselling author of The Secrets of Lost Stones. For as long as she can remember, Melissa has been telling stories in one form or another—from high school newspaper articles to a graduate thesis to blogging about marriage and motherhood. But she first learned the real importance of storytelling when she worked for a residential and day treatment center for abused and neglected children. There she wrote speeches and letters to raise funds for the children. The truth in those stories was piercing and painful and written to invoke in the reader a call to action: to give, to help, to make a difference. Melissa’s love of writing and sharing stories in all forms has endured. She lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with her husband and three children, a friendly mutt, a very loud cat, and the occasional bear. For more information, visit www.melissapayneauthor.com.

Reviews for The Night of Many Endings

[auntieg0412 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A quick and pleasant “feel-good” read.

[judithrs · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Night of Many Endings. Melissa Payne. 2021. I read about half of this book and put it down. I just couldn’t get interested in it. Nora is a librarian in her small Colorado home town. She is guilt-ridden because she has not been able to save her drug-addicted brother and compensates by being overly helpful to the many homeless who flock to the library and to other troubled patrons. She and her assistant drag a homeless man into the library in the middle of a snow storm, they get snowbound along with a bitter old woman and a woebegone teen girl. As they huddle together to keep warm, each begins to tell their stories. Predictable. Hallmark movie material.

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a book to sort of make you really think how well you are prepared for emergencies! It was a wonderful story---appealing characters and rewarding relationships, eventually.

[cherylk_44 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I so wanted to like this book more than I did. Sadly, I was not very engaged with the characters, except for Lewis and Jasmine. His story and voice just touched me. He was someone that just hit a few bumps in life and yet, he was trying to turn his life around. Where Jasmine is concerned. She is the example of don't judge a book by its cover. She may have looked like a troubled teen but she had more underneath that layer. This story started out slowly but when the storm came and everyone was trapped together, it moved at a fairly better pacing. So, if you can stick with this book, it does pick up and get better. I did see promise in this book but just wished that I could have connected with the characters better.