Imagine your grandmother just died, and three weeks later, your widowed grandfather announces he is planning to get married again to a woman almost half his age! This is exactly what sets off the fictional novel Cold Sassy Tree written by Olive Ann Burns. Told in the eyes of southern town boy, Will Tweedy, and set in the summer of 1906, the charming story, Cold Sassy Tree, involves a family's struggle with life, death, realization, acceptance, and most importantly love, while a boy soon to come of age learns some of the most important lessons of his life.
             During the weeks surrounding his grandmother's death, Will realized changes and learned much about his grandfather that he had not known before . He saw the pain and grief his grandfather went through and how hard he wanted her to recover while praying, crying, caring for her in the week before her death. Seeing this, it was impossible to doubt how much Will's grandfather had loved her. After she died, Will understood how lonely a man he became and believed in his grandfather's love despite the incessant rumors and accusations that would follow.
             Although Mr. Blakeslee very much loved his late wife, he still was an old man set on his old fashioned ways and respected by all. Being very economical, and did not even believe in electricity, plumbing, or hired help. Having lost one arm in the Civil War, and not knowing a think about cooking or cleaning, which he called "women's work," he needed someone to take care of him, and did not want to be a burden to his children. Therefore, when he called together his two daughters, Mary Willis, Will's mother, and Loma, Will's aunt, and proceeded explain to them his plan of marrying Miss Love Simpson, a woman who worked at his store, there was no questioning whether or not he would do this. The immediate reactions of his daughters were horror and objection, as expected. Will, on the other hand, did not feel scandalized or angry. It...