Leaving Cold Sassy: An Unfinished Classic

One element that makes a classic a classic is its ability to draw the reader into its characters, setting and plot. It's a story in which one is completely enraptured, one the reader hopes will never end. This is what makes Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann Burns' only completed novel, a classic. In fact, when she finished the novel, she began receiving heaps of fan mail begging for a sequel. Readers wanted to know what had happened to the characters they loved. They wanted to be able to sink back into life in Cold Sassy. For these readers, Olive Ann Burns created Time, Dirt and Money. But cancer consumed her before she was able to finish what would have been her second book. The completed chapters as well as some of Olive Ann Burns' notes are published as Leaving Cold Sassy.

Leaving Cold Sassy contains 13 completed chapters as well as a lengthy biography of Olive Ann Burns. While the finished chapters are interesting and lively, it is Burns' biography which is perhaps most interesting. It paints a portrait of a spunky old woman who endured many hardships with a sense of humor and a love for life. Perhaps her foremost hardship was dealing with the cancer that was spreading throughout her body. However, she chose to look at her illness as a challenge, and was thus able to cope very readily. She spent her time reading and writing and joking about her new baldness.

Olive Ann Burns was fascinated by history, especially that of her family. When writing her own family's history, she said she wanted to capture not only names and dates, but also the stories and the details that really made her ancestors who they were. This love for stories, especially those that were interesting and humorous, reveals itself in her writing. Reading Cold Sassy Tree and Time, Dirt and Money is like listening to your grandfather spin yarns about the olden days. They carry the charm of tall tales told around a blazing campfire. Olive Ann Burns is, above all, a storyteller and an excellent one at that.

I wrote last week that there is very little information on the Web about Olive Ann Burns. So far, I have not been proved wrong! However, I have found a treasure trove of information on the author: the biography in Leaving Cold Sassy. It is a fascinating story told by someone who knew Burns well. If you are interested in her, bypass the Internet and delve into the pages of this unfinished classic.

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