Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Review)

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Blurb

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.

Review

I have owned this book for a very long time but kept putting off reading it because I never seem to get on with books that are really hyped up. However, my sister in law recently read it on holiday and told me I must read it. I’m glad I listened because finally I have found a hyped up book that I enjoyed!

I flew through this book and it definitely helped me get out of the reading rut I have been in recently. I loved Owens’ writing style and the detail she put in about the marsh. I always think of marshes or swamps as damp smelly places but Owens made the marsh sound positively beautiful and a place of great tranquility. I also loved the descriptions of the animals in the marsh.

Kya has not had an easy life but her love of the marsh and the wildlife that lives within it makes her life bearable and she finds purpose and joy from it. Most people in her circumstances would have either left or gone mad but instead Kya flourishes in her own way. She learns from the marsh, she studies it and loves to learn new things and the marsh looks after her. When Kya is scared the marsh hides and protects her, when she is upset it comforts her. The marsh is her guardian and greatest friend.

However, Kya does have friends looking out for her and Jumpin’ and his wife Mable are definitely some of my favourite characters in this book. Jumpin’ and Mable help Kya when she is most in need and show her love and friendship when nobody else would. They don’t judge, all they do is love.

This book has so many good things going for it; a murder mystery, a loveable main character, atmosphere, drama, coming of age, romance and even poetry. I absolutely loved this book and will happily read it again in the future. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

Delia Owens is the co-author of three internationally bestselling nonfiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist in Africa—Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savanna. She has won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing and has been published in Nature, The African Journal of Ecology, and International Wildlife, among many others. She currently lives in Idaho, where she continues her support for the people and wildlife of Zambia. Where the Crawdads Sing is her first novel.