Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – Book review by Kimberly Foreman

Genre: Literary fiction

With our feet now firmly planted in spring, this week I thought I’d bring you a book which celebrates the beauty of nature. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is a moving coming-of-age story set against the rugged, untouched North Carolina landscape.

Kya Clark is just a young girl when her mother ups and leaves the family home – leaving her with her abusive father. One by one, Kya’s older siblings flee too, scared of their father’s raging temper and unpredictable fists. When Kya’s father disappears a few years later, Kya is left to fend for herself. She learns to find food in the marshes that surround her house and even finds ways to earn money – even if it’s just enough to survive.

Kya’s only friends are the birds and animals that inhabit the coastal waterways where she lives – the gulls and the herons that visit her daily on her quiet beach. But when Kya finds a feather left for her on a tree stump one day, she knows it’s from the marsh boy – her neighbour – Tate Walker, and soon after Kya finds she finally has a real friend.

When Kya’s plans don’t go as she hopes, she meets Chase Andrews who seems to turn her life around. But then a body is found in the marshes, lying at the bottom of a tall watch-tower… Is it an accident? Or was it murder?! With a prejudiced town against her, Kya must prove she’s more than just the strange girl from the marshes who no one’s ever loved.

This was a beautiful and touching story which I thoroughly enjoyed. I liked the mystery and the court scenes, but I loved the nature scenes even more. I must say the movie adaptation does the book justice, and the cinematography is just stunning. North Carolina is gorgeous and I loved seeing all the different animals and birds on the water where Kya lives.

Fans of Nicholas Sparks will find much to love in Where the Crawdads Sing. It’s a breathtaking novel which will stay with you a long time after you’ve finished reading it.

“There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” – p.103

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