Author: Delia Owens

Year of Publication: 14th August 2018

PLOT: 4/5

CHARACTERS: 5/5

WRITING: 5/5

CLIMAX: 5/5

ENTERTAINMENT: 5/5

BUY HERE

Plot:

Where the Crawdads sing, a 2018 coming-of-age mystery was written by American author Delia Owens. Two timelines that slowly converge are followed in the story. The first timeline details a little girl named Kya’s life and experiences as she grows up alone amid North Carolina’s marshes.

Kya, a character in “Where the Crawdads Sang,” is a marsh child. She learns to hide among the reeds and coexist with wild animals after being abandoned by her mother and siblings as a young child and living with her alcoholic father. As “the marsh girl,” Kya gains notoriety in the nearby towns.

Her interactions with people are few and unpleasant because she is an outcast and lives alone, but when she falls in love, her world opens up and she is once more rejected by the people she loves. To survive and get the love she so desperately wants, Kya learns to adapt and depend on the marsh and its inhabitants.

The subtleties the author includes in Kya’s character development bring her to life on the page.

What I liked about/didn’t like about the book?

A tale of survival and the extreme loneliness experienced by a young girl after being abandoned by both her mother and her four brothers. Even at the age of five, Kya is aware of the reasons why they left: her father’s cruelty, abuse, and drinking. It is heartbreaking to see how she is abandoned and mistreated while also remembering the beatings and attempting to find a way to feed.

The tale kept me interested and was fairly simple for me to follow. It started out as some historical fiction with a mystery element and ended with some courtroom drama. There was definitely some “pulling of heart-strings” going on here, which is one of my favourite phrases to use when appropriate. If you enjoy reading well-written stories, I believe you’ll enjoy this one.

Who should read this?

Anybody who like nature, good writing, and beauty, as well as anyone looking for a little mystery woven into their story, should read this book, in my opinion.

Final Verdict

You MUST read this book as soon as possible since there is SO MUCH to adore about it.