Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

ebook, 384 pages
Published August 14th 2018 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons
☆☆☆☆☆
About the Book: 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.

Well, we better hide way out there where the crawdads sing.
This book has a bit of everything in it. There is the family drama, a murder case, poetry, mentions of many a great southern dishes and of course the science of the marsh and all it holds. I love historical fiction that takes place in the south, I don't care what time period it is. One period began in 1952, when Kya's mother fled, until it eventually merged with 1969...the discovery of Chase Andrew’s body, his murder investigation, and the trial that followed. It wasn’t the murder investigation that kept me turning pages late into the night. It was Kya’s solitary life and the knowledge that she was eventually going to be charged with this crime. Owens handled the how, when and why of that beautifully, building suspense and doubt along the way.

I have to do life alone. But I knew this. I’ve known a long time that people don’t stay.
There's nothing better than family drama, if you ask me, and Delia Owens loads this book with details that keep the reader turning page after page at breakneck speed to discover the myriad of ways that Kya Clark's background continues to follow her into her adult future. A legacy of secrets and shame becomes evident as the carefully constructed walls she has built around her family history, and herself, begin to crumble.

This time she tilted her head to the side and her lips softened. And for the first time in her life, her heart was full.
This is a novel that is absolutely compelling. Kya is a sympathetic character who is forced to grow up much too fast due to her chaotic home life. Throughout this captivating novel, Delia Owens sensitively explores the long-term effects that disinterested parenting and family secrets can have on a young girl and her adult life. This glimpse of life during an oppressive and tumultuous time in the South will linger in readers’ hearts and minds long after the last page is turned.

There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.