Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (reviewed by Carol Baggeroer)

Our book group read the heartbreaking story by Delia Owens of a young girl named Kya, her loneliness and survival.

When Kya is abandoned first by her mother, then her siblings and eventually her father, an abusive alcoholic, Kya is forced to survive on her own. The family lived in a shack on an isolated marshland on the North Carolina Coast.  The story goes back and forth in time when Kya was between five and twenty-five. At a young age she must rely on her strength and resilience.  The marsh becomes her family and friend.  Although she had no schooling she educated herself by learning about the natural world and its creatures.  She studies the habits of all living things and compares them to humans.  The marsh teaches her to camouflage herself to be safe and to use its food to stay alive.  Kya is called the Marsh Girl and thought strange by everyone. She is ridiculed and ignored by the towns-people. The only friends are a couple from the black section. As Kya grows older and longs for friends she opens herself up to others.  She falls in love only to be betrayed by those she trusted.  When she is implicated in a murder everyone believes her guilty.

Author Delia Owens has had a long career as a natural science writer. She uses her experiences as background in telling the story. It is filled with poetic language and exquisite descriptions of the marsh and the natural world. For a first novel, Owens tells a wonderful story with compelling characters, plot and setting.  It even has a murder mystery. Our group enjoyed the book. although some felt parts of it were unrealistic.

—Carol Baggeroer