Morning Will Come

by Billy Lombardo

Alan and Audrey Taylor are an ordinary married couple raising three children and coping with the demands of busy careers when the unthinkable their eldest daughter, Isabel, on the verge of precocious womanhood, goes missing in the middle of the night. Thus begins this intimate portrait of a barely functioning family as Alan, Audrey and their two young sons are left to decipher the mysteries of how to go on living and loving––in the aftermath of violence and loss. A haunting, sometimes raw exploration of grief, How to Hold a Woman is also by turns humorous and sexy, exploring the bonds of brotherhood and the redemptive power of love.

198 pages, Paperback

Published April 9, 2020

Reviews

[Kelsey Mech · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a truly beautiful story. As a trauma therapist, I think this provides an honest window into the life of a family after experiencing a horrific trauma. I appreciated the different windows each chapter offered into each family member's experience. While this was only a brief retelling, and I imagine there could have been so much more to this story, what was written on the page was raw, real and emotional. A lovely little book.

[Greg Hickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn’t normally pick up a book like this one, about a broken family struggling to hold things together. But I’m glad I did. All of Lombardo’a literary talents are on display in this novel-in-stories: multiple distinct narrative voices, his ability to pick up on the little gestures and routines that characterize a person, the way he can get in a character’s head without relying on a running transcript of their thoughts, and a knack for conveying heartfelt emotion without ever being over the top. Morning Will Come is an impressive effort by a skilled and sensitive writer.

[Pat Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit I started the book with realistic expectations. I have 4 degrees of separation with the author and thus met him and we bought a signed copy of the book. I knew the content vaguely and I just was not expecting to be wowed. I was wrong.

So many authors do a mediocre to poor job writing first person point of view and making the characters resemble reality in any way. The characters in this book felt very real to me. They face real life tragedies and the narrative allows you to put yourself in the situations and think about how they would affect you and what you would think and do. I find this characteristic of books compelling but often missing.

And of course, I like for things to work out. Despite the tragedies and struggles, the end offers some hope without trying to make it seem like things unrealistically just worked out.

A great read that I would highly recommend. Oh, and if you don't want spoilers leave the introduction until the end.

[Shari Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

The description of this book on Goodreads is spot-on. This is one of those rare pieces of fiction that stays with you after you put the book down. Billy Lombardo has a voice unlike any I have read, and he uses it to make his characters and their situations, even the mundane of watching TV or walking to the store or playing Scrabble together as their family struggles to maintain, devastatingly real. I will recommend this book to all my reader-friends.

[Rachel Swearingen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morning Will Come is beautifully written and sprinkled with unexpected turns of language and descriptions that took my breath away. But the book's poetry is always in service of the larger story, and never becomes overwrought. This spare novel depicts a small family in Chicago in the aftermath of a tragedy. It moves back and forth in point of view, capturing mundane and larger events as each character navigates his or her grief and tries to find a way to a sense of self and family that is forever changed. As sad as the larger story is, Lombardo avoids dwelling on the tragedy for long and instead focuses on moments of everyday life, injecting the story with humor and the kinds of intimate family interactions that will both charm and stir recognition.

[Gilion Dumas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morning Will Come is the story of a marriage and family struggling with the disappearance of the oldest daughter. It is told through the different stories and points of view of the husband Alan, the wife Audrey, and the son Dex. Their struggle to give language to their grief is raw and honest, and often difficult to read. But the book ends with some small hope for the family as Dex has the final chapter.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories in novel about a family dealing with grief to the loss of a child. The words are simple but they make you really feel - and it’s heartbreaking. I think the author did a phenomenal job weaving in emotions through the actions of characters and narrative without writing it on the wall. Really enjoyed the last chapter. Made me cry but hopeful.
Also so cool to read a book from the Chicago public library by a Chicago author!!!

[Joe Walters]

I liked this one. The beginning is a lovely foray through the quietness & distraction needed to traverse through trauma. The language is smooth and heavy yet soft enough to move quickly through it. I always love books that show people surviving their way through pain in the most distracted ways they can, and this one works like that for a while--but it does kind of maneuver its way toward a fairly straightforward and direct story of loss after a while. It feels more like others I've read before because of this, but it will still go down as a strong read for me. I'd be more than willing to check out more from Lombardo, especially if there's a promise of more risks in the narrative.

[Julie Yanchulis · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you read the back cover of this book you know the story line - a child has been abducted and killed and a family must recover. Through vignettes during the following years you witness a family’s despair and attempts to live a happy life. It’s raw, emotional, real and beautifully written.