Cold Sassy Tree is the undeniably entertaining and extraordinarily moving account of small-town Southern life in a bygone era. Brimming with characters who are wise and loony, unimpeachably pious and deliciously irreverent, Olive Ann Burns's charming tale is a classic.
One thing you could depend on in Cold Sassy, Georgia, was that word got around--fast. If the preacher's wife's petticoat showed, the ladies would make the talk last a week. But on July 5, 1906, things took a scandalous turn. That was the day E. Rucker Blakeslee, proprietor of the general store and barely three weeks a widower, eloped with Miss Love Simpson--a woman half his age and, worse yet, a Yankee.
On that day, fourteen-year-old Will Tweedy's adventures began, and an unimpeachably pious town came to life.
As the newlyweds' chaperone, conspirator, and confidant, Will is privy to his renegade grandfather's second adolescence. Meanwhile, Will does some growing up of his own. He gets run over by a train and lives to tell about it, and he kisses his first girl and survives that too.
Olive Ann Burns has given us a timeless, funny Southern romance.
About the Author :
Olive Ann Burns was a writer for all of her professional life, but she completed only one book before her death in 1990. That book, Cold Sassy Tree, has become a phenomenon since its publication in 1984, selling over one million copies worldwide and still going strong. The author was born in Banks County, Georgia on July 17, 1924, on land originally farmed by her great-great-grandfather. She was the youngest of four children. She died on July 4, 1990. Her unfinished sequel to Cold Sassy Tree, entitled Leaving Cold Sassy, was published after her death. Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the "Best Voices of the Century" and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.
Review :
"[Grover Gardner's] enlightened reading greatly enhances the emotive effect...Rich in characterization and dialogue, this novel is well-suited to the audio format; [Grover Gardner] superbly conveys this great wealth. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."
-- "AudioFile"
"A winner!..[Gardner's] presentation...[is] a pleasure to hear."
-- "Kliatt"
"Full of humor and Twainesque adventures, the story is replete with a wonderful mix of characters...Narrator [Grover Gardner] is perfectly cast."
-- "Library Journal"
"One beautiful book. Better than To Kill a Mockingbird."
-- "Shirley Abbott, award-winning author"
"Exuberant, funny, touching."
-- "Cleveland Plain Dealer"
"No less than brilliant!"
-- "Boston Globe"
"One of the best portraits of small-town Southern life ever written."
-- "Pat Conroy, New York Times bestselling author"
"Rich with emotion, humor, and tenderness."
-- "Washington Post Book World"
