#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING PHENOMENONMore than 6 million copies soldA Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club PickA Business Insider Defining Book of the Decade “I can’t even express how much I love this book! I didn’t want this story to end!”–Reese Witherspoon“Painfully beautiful.”–The New York Times Book ReviewFor years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet … years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens.
Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
more
BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ!
Compelling. Delia Owens is a great author and conservationist. Her appreciation of nature is evident as well as her understanding of South Carolina and the backwater area. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
A hard one to put aside. Great read that kept me fully involved to the end!
Fascinating story of a girl who essentially raised herself in a marsh in Florida, and an excellent, page-turning murder mystery as well.
Compelling and brilliant
A beautiful, haunting story.
This book is not an easy read when you realize how a family and town failed a very young girl. But her character traits of resilience and being resourceful help her survive poverty and discrimination. The one thing she never learned to do was to be comfortable around polite society. If you love nature, this book will portray the beauty of a swampy marsh.
Sensual and lonely, rich in wonder. A perfect read.
I’ve cried at the end of a novel twice in my adult life. The first time was when I finished Stephen King’s 11/22/63. The second was when I read the final scenes of Delia Owens’ breakout debut Where the Crawdads Sing.
The novel is a bit of everything. It’s literary fiction, to be sure, with prose and poetry that sings like her titular crustaceans. It’s also a story about nature. It’s a story of survival and solitude.
What drew me in, naturally, is that it’s a crime story. And a top-notch one, at that.
The novel, which has been at the top of the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller list for more months than it’s taking for my friend to have her baby, is a frame story with the murder of a small-town Carolina shore hero at its center.
But along the way, we learn how Kya was abandoned in the shack and came to be known as The Marsh Girl.
The final act is a legal thriller, which I was recently told at ThrillerFest is dead (apparently something’s always dead at these conventions), but Owens does her best to rusticate the genre with her closing argument.
By the time I got to the end, I was so invested in Kya, her love story with the good-guy Tate (despite his early cowardice), and her growing career as a naturalist author/artist, knowing whether she goes to jail nearly gave me paper cuts.
I knew how I would end it (isn’t that always the game for mystery/thriller readers and writers), and Ms. Owens and I agreed, but getting there was so joyful I would’ve been just as happy if it’d gone the other way.
Where the Crawdads Sing is still available in hardcover wherever you buy your books, and online in those same locations. If you’re one of the dozen or so people who’ve yet to read this novel, I recommend it, no matter what kind of fiction typically read.
Delia Owens packed a great deal of interesting information into this novel. I coldn’t put it down once I’d started reading it. Her knowledge of biology, zoology is fantstic! She writes lyrically even when the subject is a murder mystery. This book is a hodgepodge to keep y ou turning the pages!
Among my favourite reads of 2019.
Wonderfully written with a fantastic, resilient and very strong female main character.
The prose of the natural world captured me. I love the way the author describes so knowingly the details of the marsh, the birds, the trees, the shells. The poems and sayings were captivating. While the story of a 6-year old surviving on her own was inplausible, I enjoyed seeing her world through her eyes. It made me more open-minded and compassionate about those living on the outskirts.
Very well written. Complex characters who tug at the heart.
I can see why this book received all the hype. Usually the hype puts me off, but I was casting around for more books with female lead characters for my students, who tend. to be women. The hype here is on target. There are lovely lyrical passages, an amazing main character, adventure, romance and social criticism. It’s not easy to juggle all of that, but the novel does all that.
The character development was excellent. The ending was a surprise. The author’s handling of being alone with just nature was very realistic. Gotta watch out for those fireflies, though!
One of the best books I have ever read. I didn’t want it to end
Great book inspiring and well written
Very das and yet uplifting…surviving life!
So well written, you feel like you are right there. The twists and turns keep you reading (but it’s not murder mystery).