Lisa Kaye Presley's debut novel The Wait is a powerful yet touching story of Bonnie McCaverty, a precocious little girl who never gave up on anything; not on a sickly calf or a stubborn pony and not on Calvin Wade. Since she was five years old, Bonnie always thought she would marry Calvin, but superstitions ran deep in those days, and Calvin's mind was set on the fact that everyone he loves dies after a series of deaths plague his life. He feels the only way to keep Bonnie alive was to stay away from her.
Feeling the need to separate herself from home in Smithville, Tennessee and Calvin Wade, Bonnie moves to Nashville where she volunteers for the Red Cross. She quickly learns that life on a farm is a far cry from the harshness of the city. Her heart would soon bear the scars to prove it.
After Bonnie meets wealthy attorney, Ned Bass; she begins to believe that her love for Calvin was no more than a fond memory of her youth--a dream faded by reality. A dream, that is, until when volunteering for the Red Cross at Union Station, she sees Calvin--in uniform.
While the two men fight their way across Europe, Calvin in the 30th Infantry Division and Ned in the Eighth Army Air Corp, Bonnie has to decide exactly who it is she is waiting for. All the while Della Houston, the owner of Ned's favorite saloon and his best friend, is doing some waiting of her own.
The Wait is a novel of hope and patience in the face of drought and depression, superstitions of the time, and the burdens of a world war--a poignant story that reminds us that the important things in life are worth the wait.
The Wait's characters are as innocent as the folks from Sergeant Alvin York's beloved Pall Mall, Tennessee, but its conflicts are as complex as From Here to Eternity or Pearl Harbor. The Wait will leave you longing for a slower, simpler time when family and country meant more than gaining wealth; when patriotism ran deep, and when some of the time, the only thing left to do was wait for your dreams to come true.
