Won’t Be Long Now by Elizabeth Hardinger highlights a childhood that showed the struggles and hardships of growing up in the fifties and sixties. The main character, BIllie never seems to know what to say. She feels that she has this thing inside her that she struggles to contain. It is anger, rage at not being understood, It even has a name – Charlotte. In today’s world we would speak about her learning differences, maybe even throwing around the word Aspergers. In the 1950s in Kansas, she was considered an odd duck. Making friends was really hard especially as she is so intelligent.
The story really follows her life with her parents. Her dad was always her touch person and he dies suddenly while he is on the road. Billie is then left with her mother who was determined to do the best she can with Billie. The story really explains so much about the struggles of growing up with her love for learning. The family issues with death, drinking and disease. The hard core details of living and struggling.
Billie’s life grows as she begins her own journey. The book allows you to hope and then to see the growth, the strength and the steadiness of Billie. The novel, while laying bare her struggles, shows her desire to learn and grow. Elizabeth Hardinger writes a novel that is focused on the character who comes into her own and accepts herself. Won’t Be Long Now by Elizabeth Hardinger is an interesting read.
