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Content snapshot
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Violence
Barely any
Will nearly gets hit by a train; some period-appropriate violence and death
Language
Barely any
Mild language; some period dialect
Sexual Content
Barely any
Adult romantic relationship between Rucker and Love; tastefully handled
Substance Use
Barely any
Period social drinking
Emotional Intensity
Barely any
The grief of losing a grandmother; the fear of social judgment; handled with humor and warmth
What this book is about
Will Tweedy, fourteen, watches in scandalized delight as his newly widowed grandfather Rucker Blakeslee brings home a young bride named Love Simpson—three weeks after his grandmother's death. In Burns's warmly funny coming-of-age novel set in 1906 Cold Sassy, Georgia, the scandal is the springboard for one of the most charming relationships in Southern fiction, and for Will's own growth from boy to young man. Burns wrote this semi-autobiographical novel while dying of cancer; it was completed by her editor after her death.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Community scandal and gossip as themes
Reader Verification
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