Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Barkley Cove, a little village on the coast of North Carolina, has been plagued by tales of the “Marsh Girl” for years. Hence, when attractive Chase Andrews is discovered murdered in late 1969, Kya Clark, the rumoured Marsh Girl, is quickly suspected by the townsfolk. Kya, however, is not who they claim. She has spent years surviving alone in the marsh she calls home. Compassionate and intelligent, she has found companions in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then comes the period when she longs to be cherished and stroked. Kya opens herself up to a new life when two young guys from the town are drawn to her wild beauty—until the unimaginable occurs.
Where the Crawdads Sing is a stunning homage to the natural world as well as a tragic coming-of-age tale and a startling murder mystery. Owens serves as a reminder that we are all exposed to nature’s beautiful and violent secrets, and that we are all forever influenced by the children we once were.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
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The narrative chronicles the life of “Kya,” a little girl who was primarily left alone and lived in a fictional marshland in North Carolina, from the age of six until her death at the age of 64 from natural causes (unexpected heart failure). It tells the tale of how she manages to get by with little assistance from others. Six-year-old Kya received very little interaction from her mother, brother, father, brother’s friend Tate (later Kya’s first love and eventual husband after a fateful second love with Chase Andrews), and a married (black) couple in the nearby fictional town of Barkley Cove. She would not have been able to survive alone for very long without the knowledge and experience gained from interaction with other humans.
Tate and Chase both severely let Kya down, with Chase doing so to such an extent that Kya is held responsible for his apparent death. (Chase lied to her about perhaps marrying her, and he even made an attempt at rape, making her fear that he would keep attempting by force repeatedly.) She learns to read with Tate’s assistance before he leaves her to attend college. Also, dad gives her a ton of old books to read, particularly books on biology. She reportedly never has access to any books on literature, history, philosophy, or other areas related to the general humanities.
Despite becoming an expert at researching the wild animals and plants in the marsh, writing her own books on her observations, becoming a successful published author, and painting vivid pictures of what she observed, she is inevitably reserved and guarded around most other people. With assistance from Tate and others, she also gains the ability to count past the number 29 as well as to count money and make changes.
The prosecution offers substantial evidence during her trial for the murder of Chase, but it isn’t nearly enough to convince the jury to convict her (beyond reasonable doubt). Although her alibi is particularly strong, there are certain flaws in it that raise questions about her innocence.
The story’s actions serve mostly as its background. The main subject of the novel is Kya’s feelings and how, without ever attending school at any level for more than one incredibly awful day at age 6, she learnt so much about nature and the sciences of life through her own direct observations and from books that she read. The account portrays her as being focused on the world that she was exposed to and on how she used her innate intellectual capacity to make sense of it as best she could, despite how little she knew about humanities subjects and how to interact with other people.
