Nights at the Dream Cafe

John Mahoney

Hillcrest Publishing Group, 2011 - Fiction - 324 pages

The Dream Cafe, a popular neighborhood restaurant, is a welcoming haven for all kinds of people. The owner feels that the cae's exceptional nighttime goings-on should be preserved, so he asks Tom Gibbs, a young writer, to be its official scribe. Spanning the calendar year before the United States' involvement in World War II, the novel is comprised of a series of chronological stories--narrated by Tom Gibbs--each describing events at the cafe on a single night.

John Mahoney, himself a young man during the time period evoked, brings vitality and veracity to the novel's mood and content. Anyone wishing to relive--or discover--the pre-WWII era will enjoy reading "Nights at the Dream Cafe."

Contents

• Place and Protagonist: 1
• Lets Be Famous: 13
• The Mystery of Rosa Catania: 25
• Do You Believe in Banshees?: 34
• Love with Your Mind: 45
• Deepest Wishes: 55
• The Saga of Adolphe Adele: 62
• April Lesson: 76
• Headed for Fresno: 83
• The Thomas Chatterton Literary Society: 89
• Stolen Lilacs: 97
• Barneys Surprise: 103
• Not Speak Aynglish: 112
• The Night Love Died: 124
• The Problem with Jill: 138
• A Legendary Silver Bass: 147
• Left Behind: 156
• The Tom White Enigma: 168
• By Candlelight: 176
• A Thorne and a Starr: 184
• A Party for Jake: 193
• Is That My Marian?: 204
• A Visit from Timmy: 210
• The Death of Vaudeville: 219
• Desperate Measures: 229
• The Offer of a Lifetime: 236
• Eddies Thanksgiving Announcement: 245
• On the Solstice a Writer Mourned: 264
• After Midnight Mass: 271
• A Surprising New Years Eve: 278
• Taking Stock Looking Ahead: 285
• About the Author: 294

About the author

A member of the “Greatest Generation,” John Mahoney was born in 1917, the year that the United States entered World War I. His childhood took place during the "Roaring Twenties," and his adolescence coincided with the Great Depression. While growing up, he became an amateur photographer, an avid reader, and a lover of music and nature. Just before the U.S. entered World War II, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. After field artillery training on the West Coast, he was stationed in Queensland, Australia, where he found a home-away-from-home. From 1942 to 1945, John served in two campaigns, one on Biak Island in New Guinea, and one on the Zamboanga Peninsula of Mindanao Island in the Philippines. Upon his return from the service, the G.I. bill permitted John to enroll at the Catholic University of America, where he met his wife-to-be, graduate nurse Attracta O'Connor, whom he married in 1949. The two were married for fifty years, until Attracta's death in 1999. They had three daughters, whom John supported by working as an editor and writer. John lives in Illinois, and has three grandchildren. He is a long-time member of the Downers Grove Writers' Workshop and the Illinois State Poetry Society. He has published numerous articles, stories, and reviews, as well as a chapbook of poetry, "Lost Garden." AUTHOR HOME: Westmont, IL

Bibliographic information

• Title: Nights at the Dream Cafe
• Author: John Mahoney
• Publisher: Hillcrest Publishing Group, 2011
• ISBN: 1934938580, 9781934938584
• Length: 324 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Coming of Age; Fiction / Historical; Fiction / Short Stories (single author)