Delia Owens: Where the Crawdads Sing,

9781472154644, Little Brown UK, pub date: Jan 17, 2019

 

I confess to a weakness for novels set in the US South but I fell in love with this gem of a book for its sensitive protagonist, the “Marsh Girl” Kya, set in a quiet little town Barkley Cove, North Carolina.  Reese Witherspoon gave the novel a glowing review and I wouldn’t be surprised if she is looking at film rights, I know I would.

The book has two story lines, one in the 1950ties starting with Kya’s childhood and a second one in the sixties opening with the murder investigation into Chase Adams death.

From the beginning my heart went out to Kya whose extraordinary childhood is spent in poverty with several siblings, a violent drunkard of a father and an unstable mother who is always on the brink of leaving her cabin in the Marshes coming from a more prosperous background. When she eventually does leave following her grown up children’s lead, little Kya is left behind with her father who disappears for weeks. Fending for herself at a very young age barely surviving finding solace in the beauty of animals and nature surrounding her cabin, she grows up lonely trusting only her colored friend Jumpin and his wife who help the shy girl to survive. One day she encounters a boy of her own age fishing and finds herself strangely drawn to him. Tate becomes her trusted friend teaching her to read and write encouraging her to draw and document her knowledge of the marshes.

In 1969 handsome Chase Adams is found dead probably having been pushed from a wooden tower platform. The sheriff’s investigation is soon directed towards Kya Clark as the leading suspect after Chase’s parents reluctantly admit to their son’s relationship with Kya even though he was engaged to a local girl from a reputable family.  Chase was not the only one irresistably drawn to the wild beauty and sensitivity of Kya.

The southern setting and nature descriptions, the heart wrenching narration of Kya’s survival skills, the voice of the coming of age and later  of adult Kya,  the murder investigation and finally the trial in the second half of the book kept me glued to the novel which I finished as fast as I could once on vacation. All characters are very well drawn; a 5 star recommendation from me for this escapist novel with a surprising ending which admittedly will mostly appeal to women.