” Dark and silent, late last night,
I think I might have heard the highway call
And geese in flight and dogs that bite
The signs that might be omens say
I'm goin', I'm goin'
I'm gone to Carolina in my mind

“With a holy host of others standin' around me
Still I'm on the dark side of the moon
And it seems like it goes on like this forever
You must forgive me, if I'm up and gone to
Carolina in my mind”
-- Carolina In My Mind, James Taylor, Songwriters: James Taylor

”The morning burned so August-hot, the marsh’s moist breath hung the oaks and pines with fog.”

Kya was only six years old on the day that she heard the screen door slap shut while she was scrubbing the grits out of the pot, and wondered who was leaving their shack. It couldn’t be her mother, her mother would have quietly closed the door, not let it slam shut on its own.

She runs to the porch and sees her Ma in her long skirt and fake alligator high heels walking down the lane, carrying her train case. When she got to the end of the lane, she didn’t even turn to wave.
Kya was the youngest, with Jodie being the closest in age to her, and three older siblings, Murph, Missy and Mandy. And Pa. But it isn’t long before the three oldest disappeared, almost old enough to make their own way in the world, and tired of Pa’s rages, the marks left on their bodies and their hearts.

And then Jodie tells Kya that he has to leave, that he can’t live there, can’t take one more day of it. And Kya is left alone, more or less, with her Pa. A man who wanders off, not beholden to anyone to let them know when or if he will return, and when he does return he is almost always drunk.

Barkley Cove, the town they live closest to eventually becomes determined that Kya should attend school, and so she is made to go, is escorted to the school, where the other children taunt her, tease her, and she never returns.

Kya is branded, they called her the Marsh Girl, a label meant to mark her an outcast, but Kya is happier without them. She finds her family and friends in the gulls, and the shells she collects. She is sensitive to the lessons she learns from the waters and the land, the birds that come morning and night to be fed, trusting that she will always be there to feed them.

Where this book excels is in the descriptions of her surroundings, there are so many moments in this story where the picture she paints is so beautifully true to this part of North Carolina’s coast, and most likely even more true in the 1950s. For me, the story felt as if it became a little bit bogged down in the last half of the book, where a mystery is being solved / resolved.

A lovely reflection of the beauty that surrounds us in nature, in the still natural places in this world that man has not conquered or spoiled, and the nature within a young girl, a lyrical coming of age tale that feels as wild and promising as Kya’s world.


Pub Date: 14 AUG 2018

Many thanks for the ARC provided by PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam’s Sons

"Where the Crawdads Sing" is a stunning and vividly beautiful novel that readers will want to simultaneously savor and devour with every luxurious word. You'll hear the gulls cry on the beach through these pages, you'll see the light flickering through the marsh trees, you'll smell the homemade grits sizzling on the stovetop. Your heart will ache for the lonely marsh girl and your wheels will start turning when the body is discovered, but you'll never regret reading this gorgeous novel.

Reading Where the Crawdads Sing was a moving, haunting experience for me. I was captivated by both the marsh and the other main character, Kya - both have stuck with me even though I finished the book days ago. Am giving this book a 5 star rating, rare for me, as well as a place on my (short) “to read again” list.

From the very beginning, I found myself transported, through the rich and lyrical language, into the living, breathing world of the marsh of coastal North Carolina. Here we meet Kya, a young child abandoned to live a life of her own – on her own - in the heart of the marsh. Known to the people of the nearby small town simply as the “Marsh Girl” she survives a pattern of abandonment and prejudice. At times, I found myself holding my breath as my heart ached for her. Over alternating periods of time, we watch her grow through her unique insights and circumstances.

Surprisingly, this is a first novel for Delia Owen Ph.D., B.S., although she has co-authored numerous articles and nonfiction books with her husband, Mark. Her expertise as a wildlife scientist is evident in the details throughout this work. The analogies between nature and life as a human were, at times, exquisite.

Owen created a story with an intriguing mix of solitude and belonging, love and heartbreak as well as murder and mystery. As mentioned above, this book has stayed with me and I look forward to a reread.




FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

couldn't get into this...after about 25 pages, i had to give up. Wasn't my cup of tea. if i have the impression a book is classified as "YA," i seem to have a bias.

'Kya lay her hand upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother.'

Kya Clark is a strange creature in her home town on the North Carolina Coast. Once a lost little girl, abandoned by every one she ever loved, forced to care for her abusive father, discarded, abandoned by her mother and siblings run off one by one by her father, she merged with the marsh, the only mother she has left. Growing up as much a part of the land as the trees, the insects and the birds she is closer to nature than to other human beings. It’s no mystery that in 1969, when Chase Andrews is found dead, the people immediately turn their suspicions upon Kya. But first, we must go back to the beginning.

It starts with love story between her mother and father, a man full of promises that soured. It had to have been love once, surely? Was it the depression that brought her Pa so low, or his war injury? Something cracked that Kya is too young to understand. What her parents were before the family ended up here, in a rough-cut shack, eating scraps under the thumb of a cruel father, beaten down by life- Kya is too young to know. It is 1952, and life is mean for her and her siblings. Something is missing behind her mother’s eyes, but Kya and her brother Jodie couldn’t imagine just how bad things could get. Left with their father’s ‘red-faced rages’, the family dissolves until only Kya remains. For a time, she dodges her fathers fists and fury and learns to be the caretaker, with the gnawing hunger in her belly and her empty heart, it is through trial and error that she learns to cook. Her father demands she earns her keep! There is nothing for it but to grow up, insulate herself with tough skin. Her survival dependant fully on herself, she is blessed to know Jumpin’ and Mabel, who despite struggling themselves reach out to Kya. The marsh becomes her mother, a provider when she learns to listen and hunt for food, it isn’t long before she is living in isolation completely. She turns to the marsh for sustenance, the land others fear and dare each other to enter (surely it’s haunted) is her safe haven, the only home she has ever known. She is nothing but a whisper to the townfolk, the marsh girl.

As she comes of age, she is never without the town’s malice, thought of as nothing more than poor marsh trash. Her only attempt at school taught her nothing as vital as just how separate she is from every other boy and girl, lacking in social graces and intellect, not meant for any world but the marsh. She spies on people, quiet as a wild animal, always from a distance, until Tate. Tate awakens in her the world she has been denied, teaching her lessons of literature and of the heart. But not all things tender last, the nature of love is as untamed as her own spirit. What begins in innocence intensifies as her body changes, and her desires grow. Yearning for her mother, for guidance, she leans on Tate. There are threats surrounding them, the biggest one of all… the future. How can she ever fit into a life beyond her barefoot, quiet existence? Why does she long for the people who turn their backs on her? How can she open herself to trust when nothing and no one is solid? Her wants are as meager as her belongings, simply to be touched, to belong. But every single person she has ever loved may as well be a phantom for all their vanishing.

Then there is another boy, whom she has watched, wondering how it would feel to be among his group of friends with their easy, casual play. The very boy who torments everything in his path. Where Tate is shy, sweet, this other boy takes what he wants as his due and just as carelessly discards things he doesn’t. Both will come to play pivotal roles in her lonesome life, each enraptured, almost obsessed by her fierce independence. She is a stolen moment, a world separate from the demands of others, a secret, something easy to take and take your fill of. Isolation grows, even love can’t save her from a life as an outcast.

The years pass, her legend and mystery grows and when she is accused of a horrific crime, how will she convince a town ,whose never shown her one lick of kindness, of her inocence? What of the dead man, could she have had anything to do with his demise? We float along the rough, solitary years of Kya’s life as a boat glides through water, unraveling not just the mystery of a death but of Kya’s unique existence. Nature is as much the reader’s constant companion as it is Kya’s. Can a wild thing ever be kept, tamed through love? Should it be? Those who betrayed her, hurt her, will she even get her own pound of flesh?

The ending was as sad and beautiful as the entire novel. Lingering mysteries are solved, and true love proves itself in the end. It is a story about the nature of the heart and the land. A gorgerous debut novel.

Publication Date: August 14, 2018

Putnam

Oh my gosh! I loved this book so much. I read that fans of Barbara Kingsolver may like it and did I ever. The writing was so descriptive and I felt immersed in the setting. Being an introvert myself, I could definitely relate to Kya and her solitary lifestyle amongst the swamp flora and fauna. I was gifted the ebook through the publisher and NetGalley and cannot express how thankful I am to be able to read and review this beautiful story. It’s one of those books I’d read again and again and share with my dearest friends. I will track this author in the hope of finding more of her work. Love, Love, Love!!!!

Where the Crowdads Sing is going to be one of those stories that I never forget. It was so much more than I was expecting and so beautifully written. Delia Owens fully drew me into the story and I was absolutely captivated by Kya. Her trials and triumphs came to mean so much to me, almost as if I were reading the history of a real person. At first I didn't pay much attention to the setting, but when Kya started exploring the marsh and spent the majority of her life treating it as the only friend she could rely on I began to understand and appreciate its importance. Where the Crowdads Sing begins with the discovery of a body that escalates to a murder trial that poses the greatest challenge for this isolated, lonely protagonist. Once the story gets rolling it's intense and kept me engaged chapter by chapter. I never wanted it to end, and when it did all I could do was sit in awe. I highly recommend!
*ARC provided via Netgalley in consideration for review*

Excellent book! I couldn't put it down. The characters jumped off the pages and I was sad to see the story end. Highly recommend this book!

I received this book from Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley as a free Advanced Reading Copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Thanks!

This book was just beautiful. The story is set in the marshes of North Carolina, and the main character, Kya, lives alone among the animals and plants that populate the area. As an adult she writes and illustrates studies of the plants and animals in the marshes, and Owens’ descriptions of the landscape felt to me like the work of a naturalist itself; quietly precise and descriptive, without becoming overblown.

The only quarrel that I had with the book is based around Kya’s romantic relationships with two different men, one of whom is the good boy, and the other is the bad boy. Kya doesn’t necessarily follow the classic trope and choose the bad boy over the good one, but circumstances occur in such a way that that is the situation in which she finds herself. And the bad boy is a pretty typical bad boy; there was little that he did in the course of the novel that I couldn’t have predicted when we first meet him on page 18. It was only this predictability that kept me from giving this book a fifth star.

I am so glad I got to read this book, and will definitely keep watching for further novels by Delia Owens.

Love the setting, kept me turning pages...interesting to discover how a child cansurvive in a swamp alone and come out the other side...mystery was great..did not see the end coming.

My favorite thing about this book was the attention to detail. This author, with her words, transports the reader to the coastal North Carolina area. You can feel the marsh and smell it. Kya is such a strong and determined protagonist. Her story is relevant and important. I enjoyed the prose, the story, and especially the setting. My fiancé and I are actually thinking about moving to this area and I really enjoyed reading about it; even kind of feel like I e been there. Thanks for the chance to read this. I will definitely be recommending it to others!

Many times while reading this book, I stopped , closed my eyes and could see the marsh. The pages are filled with such vividly descriptive imagery, I could almost touch the swamp lands & hear the gulls. Such a beautiful story, I enjoyed getting lost in the marshes of North Carolina & singing with the crawdads.

The Marsh girl is a local myth, ....crazy swamp girl, dirty criminal, reclusive mute, or maybe just a lonely girl?
For years the towns people have seen only glimpses & shadows of her only adding to the rumors about her. She has stayed hidden away, mastering the art of invisibility, observing people from afar.

Abandoned & left to servive on her own from the tender age of 7.
Her home is the marsh lands , nature is her parent, the wildlife are her siblings, and the birds are her friends....

But as Kya gets older & time passes on the loneliness becomes unbearable for her. The desire for human contact is growing stronger.
Will she give into her longing for companionship?
Could there be any hope left in her heart when all she's ever known is : People will always leave you.

Incredible book, best I’ve read all year. My words would not do this book justice, so I advise you to read the review of Rosemary S., librarian, as she sums up the book and its premise beautifully.

If you read only one book this year, let it be this one. Beginning with the painfully lonely childhood of Kya, the “Marsh Girl” in a small North Carolina town in the 1950’s, the story progresses to the late 1960’s when a local man with a reputation as a ladies man’ is found dead in a marsh and Kya becomes the primary suspect. Deserted by first her mother, then her siblings and finally her father, Kya has grown up alone in the marsh and has learned to live without the comfort of another person, but as she matures, she finds herself drawn to two men who will change her world forever. This novel is poetic, unforgettable and fiercely beautiful and will resonate with readers long after they finish reading