Long Night Coming takes place during the years immediately preceding the beginning of World War II. Set in Germany and Austria, the story follows the terrible consequences of Hitler's vicious and destructive policies against the Jews and how they affect the Jewish family of Rudi Bachmann, a university professor, his wife Rebecca and their young daughter Deborah who live in Munich. The story emphasizes the enormous strength and will which may be created by the bond of love between a husband and his wife. Fighting against the forces of the Nazi Third Reich in the person of SS Major Heinrich Stohlfuss of the Jewish Emigration Office, Rebecca calls on strengths she did not know she possessed in order to effect the release of her husband from captivity in the notorious concentration camp at Dachau, near Munich, Germany. Rebecca strives to overcome her natural dread and fear while working to plan and execute daring and dangerous plots to keep her family together - she has been forced to take up residence with her sister and brother-in-law and their family - and to attempt to free Rudi from the terrible grip of the "Deathshead" SS who control the concentration camp at Dachau. The intense and relentless pursuit of the family by Major Stohlfuss forces them to flee Germany with the Nazis on alert to capture them at any cost. In Salzburg, Austria the fight continues and is forced to a final collision of wills and physical endurance as the Nazi SS officer battles Rebecca and Rudi in an underground confrontation which will spell victory or defeat and death for one of them. This exciting climax is marked by a rollercoaster of physical and mental emotions which presage the dark world of the holocaust yet to come.
About the Author: Born on the north side of Chicago and, therefore, a lifelong Cubs fan, Michael Morawey enlisted in the U.S. Navy immediately upon graduation from St. George High School in Evanston, Illinois . He served as a Signalman and Navigator during a three year tour aboard an aircraft carrier, the USS Philippine Sea (CVA-47) and a seaplane tender. Upon discharge he attended Loyola University of Chicago, graduating with a degree in Psychology and a minor in English. He continued his military career through the Officer Candidate School at Newport, R.I. where he was commissioned an Ensign, USNR. During his twenty year stint Morawey served in several ships, primarily destroyer types, along with duty in Washington, D.C. and other shore sites. He also served three tours in Vietnam: the first in contraband search along the littoral; the second, in-country conducting Swift boat operations in the southernmost part of Vietnam below the Mekong; and in the Tonkin Gulf as task group missile protection and in shore bombardment support of Army and Marine units. He retired as a Lieutenant-Commander, USN. He subsequently worked in wood-carving, learned from a German master in Dallas, Texas and finally, as an appeals hearing judge with the workforce commission of Texas. Morawey has written two novels and several poems and is currently working on a third novel. He lives in the Dallas area with his wife, Mary Ann, and has three living children and four grandchildren.