C – Where The Crawdads Sing By Delia Owens

PLOT

For years, rumours of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life’s lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live 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.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behaviour of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.

REVIEW

I’ve only ever seen two opinions about this book…readers have either loved it or hated it. There has been no in between. There was also so much hype surrounding this book and for me, it truly lived up to all that hype and more. Considering that this is a debut novel, I’m floored! Delia Owens has raised the bar very high for herself and her forthcoming books will have quite the competition from the debut. 

Where The Crawdads Sing is a story of grit, courage and survival. A story of loneliness, determination, hope and love. This is a truly extraordinary story of Kya Clarke, abandoned first by her mother, then by her siblings, her dad, her town and its people. Kya was the girl who was brought up in the marshland, raised by nature with seagulls for friends. Kya’s journey spans years, the reader present from her childhood into maturity.

Kya is then befriended by two men, first Tate – her older brother’s friend, who teaches her to read and accepts her for who she is and then another Chase Andrews, the local football legend and a ladies man. Chase is the one Kya opens up to, trusts and loses her heart to. He shows her dreams of an improbable future but won’t introduce her to his family or friends, and eventually just uses her and then leaves her heartbroken. In 1969, Chase Andrews is found dead and fingers are pointed at Kya. Rumours fly high and prejudices of the town folk towards Kya don’t help her case until a 74-year-old retired lawyer comes out of retirement to defend her against a town which already considers her guilty. An emotional coming of age novel, where you as a reader will be transported into Kya’s world… crying and rooting for her every step of the way and celebrating all her accomplishments small and big!

I felt for Marsh Girl. I wanted her not only exist but live her life fully. I loved the romantic parts and I wished her happy ending. A masterfully written tale, with outstanding character development and add to that a love story and mystery woven through the story, along with art and poetry and you have this incredible book.

“Lot of times love doesn’t work out. Yet even when it fails, it connects you to others and, in the end, that is all you have, the connections.”

Delia Owens

The audiobook narrator Cassandra Campbell did a spellbinding job of completely transporting me into Kya’s world and needless to say, the story and prose were completely captivating. I am now eagerly waiting to read the author’s next book!

I would highly recommend this book and personally rate it a 5/5. 

LITERARY AWARDS : Edgar Award Nominee for Best First Novel by an American Author (2019), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction (2018)

GENRE : HISTORICAL FICTION / MYSTERY / ROMANCE

PUBLISHER : G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS

This post is an entry for Letter C of the #AToZChallenge and #BlogchatterA2Z organised by Blogging from A to Z Challenge and Blogchatter. My theme for this year’s (2021) challenge is Book Reviews.