This book has been on my TBR pile for a long while and every time somebody else recommended it, I’d think ‘I must get to that’. Finally I bought a copy from Avid Reader and what a fantastic read it has been over the Easter long weekend. Where the Crawdads Sing (Corsair 2019) by Delia Owens is a truly astounding story combining the beauty of the natural world, a compelling and unforgettable protagonist, and a suspense / mystery plot that keeps you guessing until the very end.
We first meet Kya Clark, aka the Marsh girl, when she is only six years old and living with her poor white trash family in a falling down shack in the marshes of the North Carolina coast. Kya’s older siblings are fed up with the abuse metered out by their alcoholic and gambling father, and when their mother walks away down the long driveway one day and doesn’t look back, their whole world crumbles. Eventually left to fend for herself, Kya remains uneducated in all the formal ways – no schooling, no reading or writing, no idea of how to buy supplies or keep herself safe. But as she grows up alone in the marsh, her natural curiosity and intelligence creates her own unique education. In particular, her knowledge of her environment deepens with each passing year. She can read the ebb and flow of the tides; she understands the secrets of shells and insects; she befriends the gulls and other seabirds; she familiarises herself with every fern and frond and grass; she slips into the natural rhythm of the seasons and the weather, the passing days becoming one long exercise in self-sufficient isolation. She is always alone and often lonely. She is wary of people and of authority and of crowds. She is sensitive and empathic, and yearns for something more, although she has no idea what that might be or what shape that ‘more’ might take. As she matures, she does make connections with two young men who are ‘intrigued by her wild beauty’, but opening herself up to either of them means allowing herself to be vulnerable in ways she has never fathomed.
And then a terrible tragedy. Handsome Chase Andrews, loved local, is found dead, and suspicion falls upon the strange and enigmatic Marsh Girl. Structurally, this is where the book is most interesting, as it alternates between the earlier years of Kya’s life growing up and fending for herself, and the ‘current’ timeline, set in 1969 / 1970, with Chase Andrews’ death and the murder trial that follows. Owens moves seamlessly between the two, creating a raw, tense and taut whodunnit that only becomes more and more compelling and mysterious as the story progresses. As the two timelines coalesce, and the truth is uncovered, readers are drawn ever nearer to the heart of the crime and the circumstances surrounding it.
There are so many beautiful aspects to this novel. The nature writing is detailed, intimate, finely annotated, informative, precious and fascinating. The author is actually a wildlife scientist (this is her first book of fiction) and it shows through her meticulous description of setting, place and landscape, from the weather to the tides, from the sea to the sands, from the shells to the creatures within them, from the individual feathers of a particular bird to the unique markings of an insect’s wing. Kya is obsessed with the nature around her, and this is communicated in a way that is thoroughly engaging to the reader.
The character of Kya, and also the other main characters – Tate, Jumpin and Mabel, Chase, Jodie, and even the people who are absent for most of the book – her ma, her pa, her other siblings – all are so well-drawn and perceptively perceived that they come to life on the page. Like characters such as Olive Kitteridge, the Marsh Girl will not be easily forgotten.
The plot is a clever mix of coming-of-age with murder mystery, of survivalist story with classism and racism. Each character represents a trauma or a position of privilege and power. Each tells us something about the time and the place that the story is set. Every character, Kya included, has flaws and vulnerabilities, insecurities and ambitions, pride and painful memories. Every character will break your heart, and you will care so deeply about some of them that you will hold your breath as you turn each page.
The language, the food and the minutiae focus on every sensory experience and place the reader entirely in this part of America in the late 60’s.
This book, which has sold over 5 million copies worldwide, has been called ‘vivid and original’ by The Guardian, and ‘a rare achievement’ by The Times. Sometimes it’s hard to begin these hyped-up books, because you know how disappointed you will feel if it doesn’t live up to your expectations. But in the case of Where the Crawdads Sing, every word of praise is justified. Writing like this is exceptional, memorable and inspiring.