Wait for Me

Burns (Mercury) serves up an evocative if contrived tale of how music legends are born. In 1973, Elle Harlow is a 22-year-old rising folk singer from Appalachia, where she was taught music by a healer named Merry, who gave her a special mandolin. Shortly after her debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry, Elle disappears. In 1991, Marijohn Shaw, 18, works at her father’s gas station and makes music with her best friend, Laz. Her father, Abe, claims to be the last person to see Elle, on the same night he found Marijohn abandoned in a wicker basket and decided to raise her as his own. One night, Marijohn and Laz get together to record a video of themselves performing a song, with Laz playing the mandolin Marijohn was found with as a baby. Later, the tape is broadcast by a local TV station, after which Marijohn is visited by a mysterious woman who demands her mandolin back, setting off a chain of events that will wed Elle’s past to Marijohn’s future. Though it’s rich with Appalachian atmosphere, the novel is undone by too many preposterous plot developments and some awkward exposition. This has its moments, but it doesn’t quite take flight. Agent: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, Gernert Co. (Mar.)