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Won't Be Long Now
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Coming of age in 1950s Kansas, a misunderstood young woman must find her way through a society ill-equipped to give her grace in this powerful, exhilarating story about loyalty, family, and hard-won self-acceptance for readers of Jayne Anne Phillips, Patti Callahan Henry, and Donna Everhart.
Billie Enholm has never known quite how to define what makes her different from her schoolmates and her cousins, but there’s no denying that she is. Bright but awkward, gifted with numbers and words yet baffled by the ease with which others interact, Billie lives with a constant, nagging voice that insists she’s doing everything wrong. Even Billie’s mother, Dixie, describes her as an “odd-wad.”
When Billie’s father dies and Dixie retreats deeper into beer and apathy, Billie’s alienation grows. Summers spent at her grandparents’ house in small-town Wiley, eighty-some miles away, have always been a source of comfort—until rejection by her favorite cousin leaves her feeling even more alone. No one can fathom how Billie sees the world—the piercing moments of beauty and heartache she experiences, her uncompromising honesty and lack of guile. And while it feels as if everywhere else, the 1960s are ushering in a new era of protest and change, her own prospects remain stagnant.
Then tragedy engulfs the Enholm family, prompting revelations, questions, and a life-changing dilemma. Out of these unlikely circumstances comes a chance for forgiveness and understanding, and a way, at last, for Billie to reconcile her desire for love with her need for acceptance, just as she is.
In a novel as emotional and nuanced as her acclaimed first novel, Elizabeth Hardinger gives readers a wholly original heroine whose journey is as unforgettable as it is ultimately uplifting.
Billie Enholm has never known quite how to define what makes her different from her schoolmates and her cousins, but there’s no denying that she is. Bright but awkward, gifted with numbers and words yet baffled by the ease with which others interact, Billie lives with a constant, nagging voice that insists she’s doing everything wrong. Even Billie’s mother, Dixie, describes her as an “odd-wad.”
When Billie’s father dies and Dixie retreats deeper into beer and apathy, Billie’s alienation grows. Summers spent at her grandparents’ house in small-town Wiley, eighty-some miles away, have always been a source of comfort—until rejection by her favorite cousin leaves her feeling even more alone. No one can fathom how Billie sees the world—the piercing moments of beauty and heartache she experiences, her uncompromising honesty and lack of guile. And while it feels as if everywhere else, the 1960s are ushering in a new era of protest and change, her own prospects remain stagnant.
Then tragedy engulfs the Enholm family, prompting revelations, questions, and a life-changing dilemma. Out of these unlikely circumstances comes a chance for forgiveness and understanding, and a way, at last, for Billie to reconcile her desire for love with her need for acceptance, just as she is.
In a novel as emotional and nuanced as her acclaimed first novel, Elizabeth Hardinger gives readers a wholly original heroine whose journey is as unforgettable as it is ultimately uplifting.
304 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication April 28, 2026
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6550 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Hardinger
3 books356 followersElizabeth Hardinger grew up near Hutchinson, Kansas. She now lives in Oregon with her husband, one cat, and an occasional grandchild. All the Forgivenesses is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 30, 2025
✰ 2.75 stars ✰
Welp, now if that ain't the most contrary statement I've ever heard that I let out a small scoff of disbelief. After the way it began that's really the only impression I was having. It's only through sheer stubbornness and the willful belief that somewhere, somehow, the writing can change its tune and convince me that it was not all for naught, did I plough my way through Book One of Billie's life - from her childhood days till her high school years.
I struggled to stay invested, because future Billie's diction for retelling her story was both impersonal and a stilted one, that was relaying each year of her life with painstaking detail of unfeeling that I had to keep pushing myself to stay focused and inwardly convince myself that Amina, you have to give it a chance.
“Maybe that was it, The Meaning everybody was looking for: you never know when it will be too late. What a cliché. What a tragedy.”
It was in Book Two, when a horrific tragedy occurred that from the mundane to the meaningful, to the distant memories to the distanced beings of where the present met the past, did I find myself - not wholly absorbed, but curious to see Billie's final outcome. Her complicated relationship with her Daddy and Mother, her impressions, her reactions, and her final assessment of this stage that impacted it by the sadness left in its wake.
It's a story that has us examine what it means to matter to someone and the depths of one's love or feelings for another. how we choose to express it and the decisions we take to attain a moment of certainty that we are worthy of being cherished. Billie's core was shattered with her father's death, the wavering affection of her mother, and a fractured instance that never quite relinquished its hold on her. Those three defining factors contributed to her own understanding of herself, which in the early 50s and 60s, there was no way to classify it as neurodivergence.
“To be known for your true unvarnished self and be accepted, that’s love.”
Did I like it? No. But, I am a reader who can appreciate when a message does align in a way, where it converges to a point of uncanny realization, that I can appreciate the author's intention and effort. The tone and the style leaves much to be desired, and I thought the author richly captured the ambience of life in Kansas during the 50s and 60s - a deep-rooted sense of kinship and love of life.
I will not fault anyone for DNF-ing if they have difficulty adjusting to Billie and her own anxiety and afflictions with her mental health: it is jarring. Still, I can admire her resilience, and eventual acceptance of her own misguided understanding of herself, as certain truths are revealed to her. A peace of mind that she had unwittingly been deprived of and that was a maze in itself that I was not lost in, but found a way out of. How it Won't Be Long Now for the sacrifices made out of necessity, will seem as acts of kindness.
I was not particularly fond of the final few chapters, which I felt rather than explaining the meaning of love, could have been told differently rather than an info-dump of her later years. Despite some noteworthy phrases, I was not moved by it. However, the struggle is the journey, and Billy's perception of her life and the people in it, certainly was what shaped her emotions and defined her very existence.
*Thank you to Edelweiss for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
“Nobody wants to hear my life story.”
Welp, now if that ain't the most contrary statement I've ever heard that I let out a small scoff of disbelief. After the way it began that's really the only impression I was having. It's only through sheer stubbornness and the willful belief that somewhere, somehow, the writing can change its tune and convince me that it was not all for naught, did I plough my way through Book One of Billie's life - from her childhood days till her high school years.
I struggled to stay invested, because future Billie's diction for retelling her story was both impersonal and a stilted one, that was relaying each year of her life with painstaking detail of unfeeling that I had to keep pushing myself to stay focused and inwardly convince myself that Amina, you have to give it a chance.
“Maybe that was it, The Meaning everybody was looking for: you never know when it will be too late. What a cliché. What a tragedy.”
It was in Book Two, when a horrific tragedy occurred that from the mundane to the meaningful, to the distant memories to the distanced beings of where the present met the past, did I find myself - not wholly absorbed, but curious to see Billie's final outcome. Her complicated relationship with her Daddy and Mother, her impressions, her reactions, and her final assessment of this stage that impacted it by the sadness left in its wake.
It's a story that has us examine what it means to matter to someone and the depths of one's love or feelings for another. how we choose to express it and the decisions we take to attain a moment of certainty that we are worthy of being cherished. Billie's core was shattered with her father's death, the wavering affection of her mother, and a fractured instance that never quite relinquished its hold on her. Those three defining factors contributed to her own understanding of herself, which in the early 50s and 60s, there was no way to classify it as neurodivergence.
“To be known for your true unvarnished self and be accepted, that’s love.”
Did I like it? No. But, I am a reader who can appreciate when a message does align in a way, where it converges to a point of uncanny realization, that I can appreciate the author's intention and effort. The tone and the style leaves much to be desired, and I thought the author richly captured the ambience of life in Kansas during the 50s and 60s - a deep-rooted sense of kinship and love of life.
I will not fault anyone for DNF-ing if they have difficulty adjusting to Billie and her own anxiety and afflictions with her mental health: it is jarring. Still, I can admire her resilience, and eventual acceptance of her own misguided understanding of herself, as certain truths are revealed to her. A peace of mind that she had unwittingly been deprived of and that was a maze in itself that I was not lost in, but found a way out of. How it Won't Be Long Now for the sacrifices made out of necessity, will seem as acts of kindness.
I was not particularly fond of the final few chapters, which I felt rather than explaining the meaning of love, could have been told differently rather than an info-dump of her later years. Despite some noteworthy phrases, I was not moved by it. However, the struggle is the journey, and Billy's perception of her life and the people in it, certainly was what shaped her emotions and defined her very existence.
*Thank you to Edelweiss for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I really enjoyed the way the book was set. Stepping back into the 50s and 60s was interesting and I was filled with nostalgia for earlier times. Even though I wasn't born until the late 60s, there was a lot I could relate to. I think there was a really strong original voice in this novel and I always enjoy being able to be part of a different world, immersed in characters whose lives are wholly different from my own.
The start of the book was intriguing and compelling. I enjoyed it. I found there was a time in the middle that it lost its shine a little for me. It seemed a bit too dark for my personal taste and for a while I couldn't see any kind of light at the end of the tunnel. But it did pick up eventually. The ending felt a little rushed. I would have liked to have a little more time in that world at the end and less time in the middle, which dragged a little. That would have made the ending more satisfying, for me. Overall though, I'm glad I read it and would read more from this author.
Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for an ARC.
The start of the book was intriguing and compelling. I enjoyed it. I found there was a time in the middle that it lost its shine a little for me. It seemed a bit too dark for my personal taste and for a while I couldn't see any kind of light at the end of the tunnel. But it did pick up eventually. The ending felt a little rushed. I would have liked to have a little more time in that world at the end and less time in the middle, which dragged a little. That would have made the ending more satisfying, for me. Overall though, I'm glad I read it and would read more from this author.
Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for an ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the free e-ARC to review.
This is a coming of age story that started strong. I really liked the narrator at the beginning. I think the writing is strong throughout. But about halfway through, it just got really slow and boring. For the first quarter, I thought I could maybe rate it 5*. There is also a CSA scene that doesn't really need to be there. It didn't really add to the story in any meaningful way.
After the book lost me, I was never able to get back into it. Then there is like 100 pages about a car accident that I couldn't make myself care about. I probably should give it 2* but I'm giving 3 because I liked the beginning so much.
This is a coming of age story that started strong. I really liked the narrator at the beginning. I think the writing is strong throughout. But about halfway through, it just got really slow and boring. For the first quarter, I thought I could maybe rate it 5*. There is also a CSA scene that doesn't really need to be there. It didn't really add to the story in any meaningful way.
After the book lost me, I was never able to get back into it. Then there is like 100 pages about a car accident that I couldn't make myself care about. I probably should give it 2* but I'm giving 3 because I liked the beginning so much.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews