
Desertion, isolation, survival, love, lust, sympathy, empathy, sharing, caring and a murder mystery running parallelly – Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens has everything.
This is the story of Kya, a seven-year-old girl who is deserted, first her family and then by society to be left all alone in the little shack by the marsh. Survival is the only aim but with the help of a three individuals Kya makes it to more than just survive. She becomes a part of the marsh lands, the life it holds and gradually an acclaimed expert. The journey from ‘Marsh Girl’, as the townspeople called her, to the expert biologist was nowhere near easy. In fact, quite the opposite.
Living in isolation she barely attracts any attention but for those of Tate and Chase, both at different stages in life and for very different reasons. Having being left alone by everyone, trust was always an issue but she tried to give it one chance. Barely aware of how society functioned, events took unexpected turns throwing Kya back into her shell. The unexpected and bizarre circumstances of the death of the town’s handsome lad Chase Andrews brought on a new set of turbulent events in her life. Life did take a happy turn and end on a fairly happy note.
Where the Crawdads Sing is not just the story of Kya but the marsh life around her. It is about the birds, the waterways, the landscape and their roles in Kya’s life. Along with her story pages upon pages are packed with nature and its ways. The different kinds of birds and feathers, the shells, the beaches, the lagoon and even the little shack in which Kya lives alone for a large part of her life. There is pain and suffering but also hope and healing. What started out as a desertion ended in a small content family. This is the story of the Marsh Girl and the Marsh.