Where the Crawdads Sing

 

By Delia Owens

Literary Fiction

My Review

⭐A 2022 Top Rated Read⭐

Abandoned by her family as a child in the 1960s, Kya is forced to fend for herself in a prejudiced North Carolina coastal town. Survival is fraught with difficulties but Kya is resilient and slowly begins to accept and embrace her solitary existence.

Shunned and labelled 'white trash' by the townsfolk, her only friends are birds and animals of the marsh. But when two young men unexpectedly enter her life, her eyes are opened to new possibilities. Then the unimaginable happens and Kya's life is turned upside-down.

What a beautiful book. Kya's struggles against the odds are truly inspiring; her coming of age story sensitively told. Whilst the descriptive writing and relatively slow pace won't be for everyone, I personally loved it. It's a gentle, incredibly atmospheric read. The author paints a vivid picture of love, loss and acceptance. It's a book I will treasure and I'm sure I will think about often.                

Book Source: Purchased copy

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Paperback: 384 pages

Publisher: Corsair (12th Dec 2019)

ISBN-13: 978-1472154668

The Blurb

For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. She's barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark.

But Kya is not what they say. Abandoned at age ten, she has survived on her own in the marsh that she calls home. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life lessons from the land, learning from the false signals of fireflies the real way of this world. But while she could have lived 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.