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Wait for Me
Amy Jo Burns
Celadon Books
336 Pages
March 3, 2026
Goodreads/Amazon/ Bookshop.org
I loved this author’s previous book, Mercury. Whenever you read one book by an author, you always wonder if the next one will be as good. It is always a treat when the next one turns out to be even better.
This was a serious read with some very heavy material. This did not surprise me; Mercury was dark as well. Hence, if you prefer lightweight reads, this is not the book for you. If you enjoy wonderfully deep character development, then you will like this. Moreover, while this certainly qualifies as literary fiction, what this novel avoids is the lack of plot that many such novels have. As I have gotten older, my patience with literary novels that have no plot and which are all character driven has grown thin. That is not to say, I do not like them occasionally, but they often do not keep my attention. Wait for Me has enough of a plot to propel me forward even though (perhaps the better words are especially because) it is directly tied into the characters. In other words, there would be no plot but for the characters because we (I) wanted to see how the conflicts between the characters worked out.
This novel also works as historical fiction. There are two timelines: 1973 and the early 1990s. I tend to feel old when historical fiction takes place during my lifetime, but it does, so there we are. A young folk singer, Elle Harlow, becomes wildly popular but then, after two albums that are hits beyond anyone’s possible dreams, she totally disappears. Twenty years later or so, motherless Marijohn Shaw, using her broken mandolin, sings and makes music and dreams of something better. But here she is, in her tiny little Pennsylvania town, pumping gas, eking out a living and not pursuing her dreams. Her father, Abe, says he is the last person to see Elle alive and he is obsessed with everything Elle. A meteor hits the town (don’t worry; it doesn’t hurt anyone), becoming a propellant for change. Elle returns to the town. For the rest, you need to read the book.
This is a deep book, with many different layers and I may need to reread it to be able to dig through them. It tells us about damage that is done by humans toward others, strong women who don’t believe in their own strength, the power of lyric and song, and the many ways in which people connect to other people. I am sure that I only have a few of the themes; I think many more are locked inside. There is also great beauty in the language of the novel: metaphor (the meteor), poetry (in the form of song lyrics sprinkled throughout the book) and just gorgeous language. Suffice it to say that this is my favorite book of the year so far, though it is only March.
You will need a vacation after this novel, or just perhaps a lighter read to keep your head from exploding. But this is a good thing.
Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for providing me with advanced copies of this novel. All of the opinions herein are my own.
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