Covid and crawdads – who would have thought of any connection between them. But this month our book club pick seemed so appropriate.  Isolation was a theme we all understood after this long, fearful year. 

Now imagine you’re a young girl and all alone. No one to love and nurture you.  One by one Kya’s family left home. First, at age six, her mother. Followed by her siblings and finally her drunken father. She had to prevail over unbelievable odds from an incredibly young age.

Kya’s coming-of-age story takes place in the marshes of North Carolina. Imagine the loneliness of a 10-year-old girl living by herself.  Shunned by the locals who nicknamed her “marsh girl,” she learns to take care of herself. Kya is helped by a few people like Jumini, his wife and a young man named Tate.

Her story of survival coincides with an investigation into the untimely death of Chase Andrews, a married man, who had dated Kya. The authorities and Chase’s mother are convinced that he was murdered. The story twists and turns like traversing the backwaters of the North Carolina’s marshes. Some of our members guessed the end and others were shocked by it.

A lot of controversary surrounds the book – critics abound. It is a bit unbelievable but so what. Delia Owens writes so lyrically about the marshes that I wanted to visit and that’s definitely not something I ever wanted to do.

Our book club liked the book, and we had some good discussions regarding the setting and the time period (the book was set in late 1950-1960’s). And, of course, the ending, which I don’t want to spoil here.  It’s a good discussion book for book clubs. 

Enjoy.

Rating: 8.0

Photo by Dave Chambers on Unsplash