Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

By Admin on January 14, 2024 in Blog

Southern gothic, YA and murder mystery all rolled into one. Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens has it all.

This 2018 debut novel caused a sensation, sold millions of copies around the world and was adapted for the screen. This at times heart wrenching tale endears us to its main character Kya, or “The Marsh Girl” as she is known by the townspeople of the small North Carolina town in which this book is set.

We first meet Kya as a 6 year old who is abandoned by her family for reasons that become apparent once we meet her alcoholic father.

Left alone at a very young age, Kya is forced to fend for herself and to learn to survive in her family’s shack with only the support of a local African American couple who know too well the the prejudices that exist in 1950’s and 60’s segregated America.

As the years pass, Kya finds herself fully independent and preferring to remain invisible to the townspeople who know full well her plight, but rather than help only keep her marginalised and never accept her.

Forced to learn to survive on her own, Kya comes of age. She discovers a love for her natural surroundings thanks to the help of a young boy from town named Tate, who takes her under his wing, teaches her how to read and how to further appreciate her natural surroundings.

As Kya becomes a teenager she inevitably becomes curious about the world around her. Dreaming of perhaps being accepted by the local kids her own age, and even curious about love.

And she does find love, but not an ideal one. As the story progresses, Kya reaches adulthood, there is a glimmer of hope that our protagonist will find what she is seeking.

But then there is a death. One that rocks the town, and Kya’s world is turned upside down.

Delia Owens has spun a tale which reels us into a world filled with natural beauty and human cruelty. This story will make you sad, angry and will make you think about the lengths people go to protect their own self righteous beliefs. Ignorance is a prominent feature of the townspeople who come across as a blur of characters in the background who go about living their seemingly perfect lives, blissfully ignorant of the plight this young girl has had to deal with throughout her life

I usually steer clear of books that have bestseller splashed across the front cover. But when Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens found its way into my collection I figured why not.

I’m not sure where my aversion to bestsellers comes from. Probably from my tendency to go against the grain, and most likely from my dislike of being told what to do, and my even bigger dislike of being told what to read.

But I have to say that I’m glad I picked up this book.

Thanks for reading.

Buy your copy here