Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

For 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.

My Review

This story is in two parts in one book. I appreciate the map at the beginning of the book. The story begins by putting you in a well-described swamp and then reveals a tragedy.

In the next chapter, we jump back in time to the story’s beginning. The story’s main character is very young, and her family is on the fringes of society in this marsh wasteland. Her plight and heritage are well described.

Like Chase, the nearby town boy, we get other characters in Kya’s daily life. Her interconnections are far and few between, but we have a few dependent characters like Jumpin, Mable, and Tate. We jump back and forth in the timeline. Is this story a murder mystery fiction?

As Kya’s life and years continue, we learn important information about her struggles and surroundings.

As we start the second part of this story, Kya is a grown woman, just about adult age. Her coming-of-age is filled with adventure, friendships, and living off the land.

The murder mystery and romance in this book’s second part are intriguing. The evidence is being made to point to Kya, but is it really? The book certainly pulls on your sympathetic emotions. Even grown up and now in her 20s, her story of abandonment and survival is riveting.

The courtroom presiding part is excruciating to read, revealing the reader’s heavy basis toward Kya. However, the results are fascinating. This book ends quite unexpectedly, and Kya and Tate finally get their happy lives, but even at the end, it takes a turn for the unexpected. You can hypothesize all you want on the who did it mystery, but it never outright tells you exactly. Unfortunately, the end theory isn’t hard evidence. It never reveals precisely what happened in the storyline.

If you would like to read Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, you can find it on Amazon. As an Amazon Assocaite, I earn on qualifying purchases.

If you like this book, you may also enjoy books in the following tags and categories: coming-of-age Fiction, Mystery, and Small Town.

After reading the book, I decided to watch the movie based on it as well. The movie basically showcases most of the second part of this book. It was well done, even if there were some differences in the scenes. I found the movie helped me visualize parts of this book and story, as well as the characters. If you would like to watch the movie Where the Crawdads Sing, you can find it on Amazon.