What Happens After Midnight? Between midnight and dawn, a small diner becomes something more than a place to eat. The Midnight Table is a literary novel about people who live and work while the rest of the world sleeps. In the quiet hours of the night, a diner in New Orleans becomes a sanctuary for those carrying grief, loneliness, and unfinished stories. Jo Thibodeaux works the graveyard shift. Night after night, she pours coffee, serves familiar meals, and offers something she never names: witness. Around her table gather a baker fleeing his past, a nurse who cannot stop saving people, a teenager searching for belonging, a professor losing his words, and others drawn by the simple promise of light and warmth in the dark. This is not a novel of dramatic twists or easy resolutions. Instead, it is built from moments: conversations over chipped mugs, shared silence at the counter, the slow accumulation of trust. As these strangers return again and again, their lives begin to braid together, revealing how family is sometimes formed not by blood, but by presence. Written in a calm, restrained voice, The Midnight Table explores themes of grief, chosen family, and the radical power of consistency. It honors the people who show up night after night, who feed others even when they themselves are running on empty. This book is for readers who appreciate literary fiction that lingers. It is for those drawn to character-driven narratives, atmospheric settings, and stories that move quietly but deeply. Pull up a stool. The coffee is hot. There is always room for one more.