The End of Ending: A novel about baseball, beer, and love that is stronger than death

by Josh Noem

An award-winning supernatural thriller about baseball, beer, and love that is stronger than death, The End of Ending hums with a motor running on pure hope. Dive into the story that was named best Catholic novel in the 2021 Catholic Media Association's book awards, and was selected for inclusion in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Archives.Bryant is single-heartedly dedicated to crafting beer that pulls people together, starting with the beer stand he runs at the minor league baseball stadium in Andover, Indiana. Though he’s a long way from his home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, he’s determined to make Black Fox Brewing a force for good in this small Midwestern city.When a biology grad student named Estelline walks into his life, Bryant’s purposefulness widens to welcome a blooming relationship. At the same time, Estelline’s research reveals a medical a group of elderly men are unmistakably growing younger. In fact, they’ve begun training their rejuvenating bodies by forming a baseball team; some are even using their newfound strength to support the threatened migrant farmworker community on the outskirts of town.Just as Estelline’s work points to the fact that other people in town have stopped aging as well, a stunning disaster throws both her and Bryant into a very different story than they had envisioned together. Can baseball and Bryant’s beer bring out the best in the people of Andover? And what will Bryant risk to find out if this strange epidemic is not only making people younger, but transforming the bounds of human life? Is love truly stronger than death?

355 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 27, 2020

About the author

Josh serves as Editorial Director of Ave Maria Press. He grew up in Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

He earned a bachelor's degree in the great books from the University of Notre Dame and returned for a master's in theology after volunteering at an alcohol treatment center in Alaska, working as a technician in a nuclear power plant, joining the United Steelworkers union, fighting wildfire with the Forest Service, and editing a Catholic newspaper in Florida. He was awarded the Eileen Egan Journalism award from Catholic Relief Services for reporting on mission work in Haiti.

He lives in South Bend, Indiana, with his family, and plays second base for the Lowell Porters in the Sappy Moffitt Baseball League.

Reviews

[Elizabeth J.]

The End of Ending by Josh Noem, a novel

This gripping narrative cleverly interweaves several threads of personal life stories that center on the death of a labor organizer whose young son is determined to continue his father's mission. The author's love of baseball creates an engaging framework around the protagonists’ lives. The desire of two young lovers who want their love to be eternal interjects a novel science fiction element, which is pulled along by their mutual love and also a love of justice prevalent in this hard-working community. The presence of modern immigrant exploitation leads to a form of slavery revealed by those working in the criminal justice system and by personable beer-drinking, baseball loving Catholic priests dedicated to their flock. The author Josh Noem's gripping style keeps the reader's attention glued to the action when the good and evil forces confront each other. The setting is local in the small town of Andover, Indiana, where a young Lakota Indian from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is determined to develop the traditional art of craft beer in an abandoned glass factory, which becomes the scene of final harrowing moments in the story. The well-chosen details in each scene enhances the believability of the incidents despite their slipping into a realm of the unreal.

I highly recommend this very readable narrative in which readers will find familiar settings, yet have their understanding teased with mind expanding possibilities suggested with nuance by the polyvalent title The End of Ending.

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the creative imagining of what the resurrection of the body could be like, as well as the interplay of the three communities of baseball, migrant workers, and religious brothers. A beautiful feat of a book