Description
Where the Crawdads Sing is a 2018 novel by an American author Delia Owens. It has topped The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2019 and The New York Times Fiction Best Seller of 2020 for a combined 32 non-consecutive weeks. The book was selected for Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club in September 2018 and for Barnes & Nobles Best Books of 2018. By December 2019, the book has sold over 4.5 million copies, and it has sold more print copies in 2019 than any other adult title, fiction, or non-fiction. It was also No.1 for 2019 on Amazon.com's list of Most Sold Books in Fiction.
The novel Where the Crawdads Sing is immersed in the natural world. Although this is Delia Owens' first novel, she long ago distinguished herself as a gifted writer with her co-written memoir Cry of Kalahari.
In the novel Where the Crawdads Sing, the story follows two timelines that slowly intertwine. The first timeline describes the life and adventures of a young girl named Kya as she grows up isolated in the marsh of North Carolina from 1952-1969. The second timeline follows a murder investigation of Chase Andrews, a local celebrity of Barkley Cove, a fictional coastal town of North Carolina.
The Marsh Girl, she lives alone in nature--but the draw of other people, and specifically love, brings her into contact with the greater world. In late 1969, when a handsome man-Chase Andrew-is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark. But Kya is not what they say. She is sensitive and intelligent. She has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Later, the time comes when she longs to be touched and loved. Kya opens herself to a new life when two young men from town come across to her wild-beauty. She lives her dream until the unthinkable happens.
The novel 'Where the Crawdads Sing' is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking story of a young girl who thought the outside world is beautiful, and a mysterious tale of murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secret that nature keeps.
This novel has a Mystery at its core, but it can be read on a variety of levels. There is great nature writing; there is a coming-of-age, and there is literature. Crawdads is a story lovingly told-- one that takes its time in developing its characters and setting, and in developing the story. You'll want to relax and take your time as well, and when you're done you will want to talk about it with another reader. -- Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review
Adaptation
Fox 2000 owns the film rights to this book. Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine production company will produce it with Witherspoon as the producer. Lucy Alibar is adapting the book to a film script.
About the Author
Delia Owens born in 1949, is an American author and zoologist. Her debut novel was Where the Crawdads Sing. In the mid-'80s, Owens co-wrote Cry of the Kalahari with her then-husband Mark, which was a best-selling, nonfictional account of traveling and researching Africa's Kalahari Desert. One of the joys of Cry of the Kalahari was Owens' description of the natural world. She has also co-written the memoirs sharing credits with Mark--The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savanna at the time studying animals in Africa.
She has been an awardee of many awards and honors:
- 1981 - Rolex Awad for Enterprise for Kalahari Research Project (with former husband, Mark Owens)
- 1985 - John Burroughs Award (with Mark Owens)
- 1993 - University of California Outstanding Alumnus Award
- 1994 - Ridder of the Golden Ark Netherlands
Rating: 4.8/5
Author: Delia Owens
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publishing Date: 14 August 2018
Edition Language: American English
Genre: Literary Fiction, Animal Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction
ISBN-10: 0735219095
ISBN-13: 978-0735219090
Pages: 384
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