For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. 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. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life--until the unthinkable happens.

Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

I found this book by accident while browsing suggestions for what to read. Otherwise I don't think I would have stumbled across it. Which surely would have been a loss for I really liked this book.
Quite an unusual story (for me?) but once I got into it I couldn't stop. I wasn't aware of the "Marsh People" so I found this topic quite fascinating. I really fell for Kya (though I still don't know how to pronounce that properly ;-)) and her story. I hated that they all left her and the one to whom she finally opens betrayed her. So to answer one of these questions at the end of the book: Yes! by all means I would have acted the same way as Tate!

Ring:
1. earthcaroleanne (UK/UK)
2. Sparkish (UK/UK/EU)
3. Poodlesister (UK/EU)
4. greenbadger (UK/int)
5. Mecu (FIN/EU)
6. Icila (F/Int)
7. Edwardstreet (NZ/int)
8. penelopewanders (please ask where she is at the moment ;-)/EU)
9. sedna5213 (D/EU)
10. Andrasthe (A/EU)
11. Mankyi (CH/EU)
12. jkap (CH)

back home to Kiki please!

on its way to Scotland -
enjoy!

Arrived today. Thank you.

Thank you for sending this book out. I have not read many books I've really enjoyed this year so glad to get this one. It is a captivating read with two simultaneous timelines. The earlier one stretching over the years from 1952 onwards and the second starting at 1969. The first line gradually catches up with the second which I found strangely exciting. I have never been to North Carolina but it was effortless to imagine thanks to the descriptive prose giving us a valuable insight into the scenery and wildlife of the region. The writing also has calmness to it which I suspect you would find in the marsh.

Sending on in the bookring.

Received today. Thank you for sending

What a great end to my reading year! This started rather slowly for me but quickly gathered pace. I was convinced I had worked everything out, but I was wrong and the ending knocked me sideways! I loved it. Thanks for sharing 😊

Will travel on as soon as I can get to the post office.

Heading over to Poodlesister. Enjoy! X

Thanks for sending on the book and for the card and BC bookplates. I will read it and send it on to greenbadger with a 2020 Favourites Roundabout book!

Beautifully written. I loved it.

Will be travelling to greenbadger next time I visit the post office.

Join UK Bookcrossers at the Newcastle Unconvention from 1st-3rd October 2021

It's arrived, thank you very much! It seems to be in the nature of ray books that they always arrive in groups. :)

Abandoned by her family to fend for herself at a very early age, Kya grows up a creature of the marshes. Shunned by the community, she survives on the fringes, a lonely existence - closer to the gulls than to any human being. Only when Tate, a boy who lives nearby, gives her a beautiful feather, does she start to open up to human contact. But as Kya gets older another young man in the village starts to take an interest in her too. In parallel, the story of the police investigation several years later into the murder of the handsome and popular Chase Andrews unfolds. This interspersed thread of suspense adds tension into the beautiful and poetic story told by Kya's love of the natural world. This is a wonderful book, I'm really glad I read it.

Sent to Mecu who is next in the ring.

The book has arrived in Finland, thanks!

"What d'ya mean, where the crawdads sing? Ma used to say that." Kya remembered Ma always encouraging her to explore the marsh: "Go as far as you can - way out yonder where the crawdads sing."
"Just means far in the bush where critters are wild, still behaving like critters."

Kya is an abandoned child, her whole family walks out from her life, leaving her alone to survive the harsh marsh. Living alone is all she knows, so she survives. The marsh and its wildlife is her family, but there are other people, too, invading. Can she trust them and let them in her life, or will she be abandoned again?

This is a story of survival, loneliness, love, coming-of-age, murder, marsh, art, knowledge - all in one book.

Finally on its way to the next reader when I've got the chance to go to the mail office. Safe travels!

Driving in the country by a beautiful spring morning I spotted my mailman's van and bingo he gave me this so waited for book.
Thank you mecu for sending and kiki for sharing, hello to everybody in between.

As for so many internationally praised books I was a little afraid to be disappointed but no. Here is a great novel. On many levels.
For me the best part was the meticulous description of the marsh life.
First novel but not first book for this author who is a wildlife scientist.
The conversation with Delia Owens at the end of the book is worth reading. I'm way too old to become a biologist but this book could be inspirational for our young people.
A good story to boot.
Thank you for sharing kiki.

On its way to Down-Under. Enjoy !

Will read ASAP and then send on its way. Thank you.

What a pleasure this was. Although the plot was improbable the portrayal of the natural world was delightful. Off to the next reader.

Quick trip over from New Zealand, all things considered... I look forward to getting to this one, although the rings and rays seem to be racing each other to my door these days, so it will just have to go at the back of the line. Not to mention a bookclub book which has been relatively slow going so far but which I'm hoping will eventually give me more impetus to turn the pages...
Thanks so much for sending, everyone, and for making it available, Kiki!

This is here as a bookcrossing ring - with strict instructions that it really has to make it home at the end of the ring and not wander off somewhere as some rings do. (sadly- otherwise they would be labelled as rays, but I am digressing).

I really wasn't sure what to expect, although other people I knew had read and enjoyed this. Typically, I did not read any blurbs or back covers or reviews, so had no idea what I was plunging into.
The concept of the marsh sheltering outcasts, pirates, escaped slaves etc was not new to me (thanks, among other things, to a lot of historical romance reading...), but the situation here is not romanticised.
I found the story moving and intense... well-written and evocative but in ways hard to read. The everyday racism and prejudice, the clumsy cruelty and at the same time the awkwardness and ineptitude inherent in puberty... Not always an easy read.
I was relieved by the end but also very sad. I am glad of the opportunity to have read it.
I have read it in Mallorca, but will post it on its way once I am further north. From experience, it is very expensive to ship books from Spain!

Back from Mallorca where it was read (also by a few other people, all of whom enjoyed it, none of whom are bookcrossers, grrrr), this has journeyed up to France by ferry and car.
Now it heads off to Germany.
Enjoy!
Thanks Kiki for making this super book available. I hope everyone has had a happy, healthy summer!

The book just arrived. Thanks a lot for sending it (and the beautiful card) over penelopewanders and kiki66 for sharing it. Am very curious to read this book.
***
I don't have anything to add to what has already been said. A great read!

The book is now on its way to the next reader. Enjoy!

Received today.
Thank you very much.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- update:

With this book I felt like I was standing outside on the street looking into a crowded café with people all happily voicing their excitement with this brilliant story. What had I missed? What the heck did I not get?

Had “Where the crawdads sing” not been recommended so forcefully, praised so highly, I would have read it as another nice novel for the beach. It contained beautiful descriptions of the marsh, the land and its animals, some flora as well. It was sad and sweet and entertaining. What if characters were inconsistent, vague or cliched to the point of insult, what if the plot was wonderous at best… But with all the critical acclaim it got, being compared to Mark Twain’s literature and what not – I have to say NO.

I can suspend my disbelief and choose to accept that Kya grows up in the marsh by herself. I can choose to believe that somehow she becomes this raging beauty, who without basic hygiene or access to - let’s say - a dentist, is flawless even bringing the all-American quarterback prince charming under her spell . I can choose to ignore that she behaves like a wild animal except when it is convenient not to and I can even get over most of the reading business and abrupt linguistic changes – but the amount of disbelief I’d need to buy the whole bus schedule premediated murder scheme is simply too much.

This whole solution is given so haphazardly, it is so out of character that I have to either revaluate all of Kya’s narrations as she clearly has to be an unreliable narrator who has so much more knowledge of civilisation and logistics as she leads on or I have to assume the author was so unsure of the direction of her story that she had to deconstruct a big part of her main character in the end to finish the exploration into the crime genre. Her initial idea of recounting Kya’s life in the marsh might not have seemed exciting enough? I don’t see the coherence. It doesn’t make sense to me.

“Where the crawdads sing” wants to be a survival novel, a coming-of-age novel, a romance novel, a crime novel and serve social commentary on top. Unfortunately it is none of these things to a point where I would declare it a (literary) masterpiece.

To Switzerland :)

Received the book today, thank you! ( and thanks for the BC label, Andrasthe!)
We're reading it for a book club this month, so the book came to me at just the perfect time!

UPDATE: I really did not expect the story to be so captivating! Kya was abandoned by her family in the marshes in North Carolina - she was rejected by her own family and the society, but, against all odds, she survived. The only solace she could find was the beautiful marshes that surround her. Unexpected friendships and love connections form and break, but in the end, Kya stays true to her wild nature.

Leaving the book in my mail box for jkap


If you aren't familiar with Bookcrossing, take a few minutes to check out this very cool site. Bookcrossers LOVE books, and more than anything, they love to read books and then set them free for other people to find and enjoy. I would love it if you would leave a journal entry -- you can say where you found the book or how you liked it when you read it.

Picked this book up from a fellow bookcrosser on my way home from work. Looking forward to starting this one on the train ride home! Thanks for the labels :)

What a lovely book. Very much enjoyed this read and the authors amazing description of the marsh.

Posted this with a little delay. The book is on its way home :)

Posted this with a little delay. The book is on its way home :)

Hello everybody - thank you for taking good care of this book - it really made a journey across the globe!
Now it back again and can relax on my shelf.

And Danke Dir jkap for the chocolate! much appreciated ;-)