Where the crawdads sing by Delia Owens

This novel led to some interesting discussion, with members divided on whether it was a good read or not.

Some couldn't get past what they thought was an implausible plot, that a child of six with a violent alcoholic father could survive in the marshes, eventually growing and collecting their own food, looking after the family shack, and managing a dinghy. They also couldn't believe that the authorities seemingly could do nothing about it. Others recognised that it was pure fantasy but nevertheless enjoyed it as a page turner and a good yarn which pulled at the heartstrings. Some argued that kids growing up on farms learn to be independent early and that the will to survive sees children living successfully on dumps, so why not in the marshes?

We did agree that the writing is very beautiful when it comes to the descriptions of nature in the marshes of North Carolina. More than a backdrop, nature is integral to the story, something which Kya turns to, for solace and as to a protective mother.

The book follows two different timelines. It opens with a police investigation into the apparent murder of Chase Andrews (in 1969), a man who comes from a wealthy local family and who is gossiped about as a womaniser. Attention turns to Kya who the townsfolk look down on as trash but who Chase is rumoured to have visited when he and Kya were both teenagers. Despite having subsequently gotten married to a local girl acceptable to his parents, Chase continues to wear a shell necklace Kya made for him. This is missing from his body when he is found dead at the base of a fire watch tower in the marshes.

The second timeline (from 1952) follows Kya's own development, bewildered as to why her sisters, mother and brothers have left her one at a time and have never returned. When her father finally leaves for good, too, she pretends to anyone she is forced to interact with that her parents are still around. She is suspicious of the authorities and hides in the marshes when truant officers come to make sure she goes to school. She eventually attends one day only, lured by the promise of the hot meals served by the school. She is bullied and teased by the other children as 'the marsh girl' and subsequently hides in the marshes whenever the truant officers return. Eventually, they give up.

However, thanks to the friendship of one of Kya's brother's friends, Tait, who remembers her from when she was tiny, she is taught to read. Their friendship grows based on a shared interest in nature but as love blossoms Tait leaves her, apparently for good, when he goes to college to study biology.

It is after this blow that Kya begins a relationship with Chase but this, too, ends abruptly when she reads a newspaper article publicising his engagement.

Kya continues to develop her interests as a naturalist, collecting shells and feathers, and drawing birds which, because of Tait leaving her his old school books, she is eventually able to name. Rather remarkably, she becomes a local author of nature works which prove to be good sellers.

But who has killed Chase, why, and how many people really care? Members were surprised by the ending which they didn't see coming.

The novel has sold more than 15 million copies and a popular film adaptation was released in July 2022.

Who is Delia Owens?

 Delia Owens is an American author, zoologist and conservationist, who was born in 1949 and raised in Southern Georgia, spending her childhood in or near wilderness. At University, she studied a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Georgia with a PhD in Animal Behaviour from the University of California.

She met her (former) husband, Mark, in a protozoology class at the University of Georgia where they were both graduate students studying biology. After marrying in 1973 they studied animals together in South Africa, the Kalahari Desert and Zambia. She has written memoirs about this time in her life: Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant and Secrets of the Savanna. After returning to the United States, Delia became involved in bear conservation. Where the Crawdads Sing, was released in 2018, and was her debut novel. It was adapted into a film released this year.