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A review by handilibrarian
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
5.0
Abandoned by her family one by one, Kya Clark was around thirteen when the last one disappeared. But by then she had become proficient at surviving on her own in the Marsh off the quiet town of Barkley Cove. Scarred by her abandonment, she last one day in school before becoming known as the “Marsh Girl” causes her to flee and never return.
Finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the wild, it takes years before she trusts anyone enough to let them help her. Jumpin’, the bait shop and gas dock owner, and his wife, Mabel, let her barter her extra fish and crawdads for food, gas and other necessary things but Tate is the one who helps her the most. A long-ago friend of her brother, Tate earns Kya’s trust and ultimately helps her learn to read. When reading becomes easy, the books he brings help her learn everything she could want to know about the world. But when Tate goes off to college and never returns like he promised, Kya once again turns away from the hurts of the world.
Alone again, she uses her knowledge of the Marsh and skills as an artist to gather specimens and record the wildlife of her home. Loneliness eventually leads her towards Chase Andrews, the handsome playboy of Barkley Cove. Kya’s separation from the world allows Chase to make promises that she can’t know he wouldn’t keep. When Chase is found dead in late 1969, the locals immediately suspect the mysterious and beautiful “Marsh Girl.”
Finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the wild, it takes years before she trusts anyone enough to let them help her. Jumpin’, the bait shop and gas dock owner, and his wife, Mabel, let her barter her extra fish and crawdads for food, gas and other necessary things but Tate is the one who helps her the most. A long-ago friend of her brother, Tate earns Kya’s trust and ultimately helps her learn to read. When reading becomes easy, the books he brings help her learn everything she could want to know about the world. But when Tate goes off to college and never returns like he promised, Kya once again turns away from the hurts of the world.
Alone again, she uses her knowledge of the Marsh and skills as an artist to gather specimens and record the wildlife of her home. Loneliness eventually leads her towards Chase Andrews, the handsome playboy of Barkley Cove. Kya’s separation from the world allows Chase to make promises that she can’t know he wouldn’t keep. When Chase is found dead in late 1969, the locals immediately suspect the mysterious and beautiful “Marsh Girl.”