Wait for Me, Amy Jo Burns
Wait for Me, Amy Jo Burns
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Wait for Me
A Novel

Author: Amy Jo Burns

Narrator: Gail Shalan, Mark Sanderlin, Patti Murin

Unabridged: 13 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/03/2026


Synopsis

A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK

From the author of Mercury and Shiner comes a novel about the bond between two female folk singers, the love stories that haunt them, and the music that brings them together to burn bright.

This program features music performed by Gail Shalan, Mark Sanderlin, and Broadway star Patti Murin.

Young folk singer Elle Harlow reaches the height of her prowess in 1973, with two wildly beloved albums to her name and a hidden history of impossible heartbreak. When she sets foot on the famed Grand Ole Opry stage, a far cry from the mountain that raised her, Elle gives the biggest performance of her life. Then, to the dismay of shocked fans, her producer, and the man who still loves her, she vanishes.

Almost two decades later, eighteen-year-old Marijohn Shaw is spending her summer pumping gas, writing songs on her broken mandolin, and longing for a mother. Her father, Abe, has always sworn he was the last person to see Elle Harlow alive, but when a meteor strikes the woods of their sleepy Pennsylvania town and a piece of Elle’s past emerges from the wreckage, the truth of her disappearance sets fire to everything Marijohn believes about herself, her music, and her ability to love with abandon.

Wait for Me exalts the lush hills of Appalachia and the bright lights of Nashville as it reveals the legacy of Elle Harlow, the bold voice that defined her, the intimate betrayal that undid her, and the unexpected faith of another young woman determined to resurrect her.

Song lyrics written by Amy Jo Burns, music by Mark Sanderlin, produced by Macmillan Audio.

A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books

About Amy Jo Burns

Amy Jo Burns is the author of the memoir Cinderland and the novel Shiner, which was a Barnes & Noble Discover pick and an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her novel Mercury was a Barnes & Noble Book Club pick, a Book of the Month selection, a People Magazine Book of the Week, and an Editor's Choice at The New York Times. A western Pennsylvania native, she lives in New Jersey with her family.

About Gail Shalan

Gail Shalan (she/her) is a New York City-based storyteller on screen, stage, behind the mic, and with puppets.A 2024 two-time Audie Award winner (Best Young Adult and Best Middle Grade), as well as a multiple Earphones Award winner, praised by The New York Times, Library Journal, Vulture Magazine, Booklist, and Audiofile, she’s narrated 200+ titles.Gail has performed on stage at The Bristol Old Vic, Cherry Lane Theatre, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and other various theater spaces across the US and UK.Her work as both an actor and a puppeteer was featured in the award-winning short film Coyote Girl (BostonIFF Best Short).Known for her dexterity with character and dialects, her tangibly emotional reads, and her deep respect for the text, Gail is passionate about stories that center generational healing and mental health, that navigate the sticky spaces between childhood and adulthood, and stories that ask who am “I”? Who are “we”? And what swells in the space between us, what dwells in the space within us? For that’s where the greatest discoveries and curiosities lie.

About Patti Murin

Patti Murin is an acclaimed, Audie Award–nominated audiobook narrator celebrated for her vibrant, emotionally resonant performances. She has brought to life bestselling novels written by blockbuster authors Christina Lauren, Katherine Center, Jodi Picoult, among many others. Known for her sharp comedic timing and ability to embody complex characters, Patti specializes in contemporary romance and women’s fiction, and would love to explore all of the genres. She is a self-proclaimed and proud book nerd who routinely reads 200 books per year for pleasure. She is also a highly lauded musical theatre actor who originated the role of Princess Anna in Disney's Frozen on Broadway, and took a turn in the bubble as Galinda in Wicked. Keep an eye out for her on the Hallmark Channel in one of the many movies she has made!


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Quotes

Wait for Me left me speechless with its frankness and beauty. Amy Jo Burns’s enthralling prose is not unlike protagonist Elle Harlow's Appalachia: lyrical and transcendent, but homegrown and honest. An absolutely gorgeous exploration of friendship, authenticity, and the power that a few strings and a well-written lyric can wield.”
—Shelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Amy Jo Burns has written a soul-stirring marvel in Wait for Me—a novel as wild, lyrical, and full of longing as the songs at its center. Every lyric is a clue, and every character sings with bruised, unforgettable beauty. I would follow Amy Jo Burns anywhere she leads.”
—Paula McLain, author of Skylark and The Paris Wife

"Numinous and unforgettable, Wait for Me thrums with the heart of a songwriter and the soul of a gifted storyteller. With music and atmospheric beauty, Amy Jo Burns holds our hand along the broken path to wholeness, and proves once again that women can reverse the order of the world. This atmospheric novel left me breathless and in awe.”
—Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea

"The novel is insightful in its depiction of complex relationships between women and of the grueling and sometimes dark sides of the music business."
—Kirkus