Where The Crawdads Sing

Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Delia Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

For years, rumours of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her. But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world — until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming-of-age story and haunting mystery. The story asks how isolation influences the behaviour of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.

"Readers should set aside daily tasks, turn off cell phones, forget about laundry and possibly even eating once they start this story ... Owens’ writing is tight, yet sumptuous. It is abundant with descriptive prose and brings the reader straight to the edges of the briny marsh waters, and directly into the mind of the Marsh Girl. Reading this story is at once a study of the ecological environment as much as it is an exquisite virtual experience of a unique place in our natural world. The conclusion is haunting and unexpected, yet leaves a sense of fulfilment as all well-told stories do."  - Donna Everhart, The New York Journal Of Books