The Tom
Sawyer Books
by Sidney Saylor Farr
Sidney Saylor Farr was an Appalachian writer, editor, poet, and storyteller with a rare gift for listening closely. In her Tom Sawyer books, she took hours of conversation, memory, testimony, humor, and spiritual reflection and shaped them into books that still feel alive on the page. These are not lectures or abstract spiritual theories. They are books about a man who died, came back, and spent the rest of his life trying to make sense of what happened.
“I am the only human who ever
got kicked out of heaven!”
— Tom Sawyer
What Tom Sawyer
Learned from Dying
After a truck accident left him clinically dead for fifteen minutes, Tom Sawyer returned with a story that changed the course of his life. Sidney Saylor Farr follows that experience with care, letting Tom’s own voice carry the weight of what happened: the tunnel, the Light, the life review, the return, and the years of adjustment afterward.
This first book is part near-death account, part life story, and part conversation. It includes Tom’s childhood, family, work, humor, struggles, teachings, and the shift that came after losing his fear of death.
COMING SOON
Lantern Oak Press Edition
Tom Sawyer and the
Spiritual Whirlwind
The second Tom Sawyer book continues beyond the near-death experience itself and follows what came after: the questions, travels, prayers, healings, warnings, humor, and spiritual work that shaped Tom’s later life.
Where the first book tells the story of the experience and return, this companion volume moves through the whirlwind that followed. It is stranger, wider, and more searching, a book about living with what was brought back.
COMING SOON
Lantern Oak Press Edition
Headwaters
Poems by Sidney Saylor Farr
Headwaters is Sidney Saylor Farr’s poetry collection. Quieter than the Tom Sawyer books, it reflects the same rooted Appalachian voice: observant, plainspoken, weathered, and attentive to the inner life.
COMING SOON
Lantern Oak Press Edition
More from
Sidney Saylor Farr
Readers interested in Sidney Saylor Farr’s writing may also wish to explore her other published works, including Appalachian memoir, regional writing, poetry, and literary nonfiction released through other publishers over the years.
Her work was published through regional and independent presses dedicated to preserving Appalachian voices, stories, and traditions.
Selected Works
My Appalachia: A Memoir
A personal and reflective memoir centered on Appalachian identity, family, memory, place, and the changing life of the mountain South.
More Than Moonshine: Appalachian Recipes & Recollections
Part cookbook, part storytelling collection, this beloved work gathers Appalachian recipes alongside memories, humor, regional history, and reflections on mountain culture.
Appalachian Women: An Annotated Bibliography
A literary and historical work documenting Appalachian women’s voices, writing, and contributions to regional culture and scholarship.