Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Where the Crawdads Sing, the debut novel by retired American wildlife scientist Delia Owens, is a nature-infused fiction of a young girl left to her own devices for survival after she was abandoned by her family. It has sold in excess of 4.5 million copies.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

The story follows two timelines that slowly intertwine. The first timeline describes the life and adventures of a young girl named Kya as she grows up isolated in the marsh of North Carolina from 1952 to 1969. The second timeline follows a murder investigation of Chase Andrews, a local star quarterback of Barkley Cove, a fictional coastal town of North Carolina.

Kya Clark, nicknamed the Marsh Girl by the locals, lives in a shack on the marshy outskirts of town. She is looked down upon by most of the locals. She was a young girl when her mother abandoned the family without looking back. Over time, all her four siblings followed suit, leaving Kya alone with her often absent, and abusive father. She had to learn to shop, to cook and to provide food for herself in her father’s absence. When her father also left, she learns self-reliance, including gardening and trading fresh mussels and smoked-fish for money and gas.

As Kya turns teenager, she is befriended by local boy Tate Walker, who teaches her to read and write. The two form a romantic relationship until Tate leaves for college at the University of North Carolinal. Realising that Kya cannot fit into his more civilized world, he stops contacting her despite promising to visit her from time to time.

Years later, in 1965, when Kya is now 19, she develops a romantic relationship with Chase Andrews, Barkley Cove’s star quarterback and playboy. Despite her suspicions, she believes Chase’s promises of marriage and consummates their relationship in a cheap motel room.  After shopping for groceries one day, she reads in the newspaper of Chase’s engagement to another woman, and realizes that his promises of marriage were a ruse for sex. She ends their relationship. So when Chase Andrews turns up dead, Kya becomes the main suspect and has to stand trial.

A murder mystery novel would be not be complete with a twist ending. I admit I did not see the twist coming. Owens delivers on that without disappointment.