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“This wonderful novel has a bit of everything—mystery, romance, and fascinating characters, all told in a story that takes place in North Carolina.
Nicholas Sparks, New York Times bestselling author of Every Breath
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Delia Owen’s gorgeous novel is both a coming-of-age tale and an engrossing whodunit.
Real Simple
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Evocative...Kya makes for an unforgettable heroine.
Publishers Weekly
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The New Southern novel...A lyrical debut.
Southern Living
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A nature-infused romance with a killer twist.
Refinery29
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“Both a coming-of-age story and a mysterious account of a murder investigation told from the perspective of a young girl...Through Kya’s story, Owens explores how isolation affects human behavior, and the deep effect that rejection can have on our lives.
Vanity Fair
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Lyrical...Its appeal ris[es] from Kya’s deep connection to the place where makes her home, and to all of its creatures.
Booklist
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“This beautiful, evocative novel is likely to stay with you for many days afterward....absorbing.
AARP
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“Compelling, original...A mystery, a courtroom drama, a romance and a coming-of-age story, Where the Crawdads Sing is a moving, beautiful tale. Readers will remember Kya for a long, long time.
ShelfAwareness
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With prose luminous as a low-country moon, Owens weaves a compelling tale of a forgotten girl in the unforgiving coastal marshes of North Carolina. It is a murder mystery/love story/courtroom drama that readers will love, but the novel delves so much deeper into the bone and sinew of our very nature, asking often unanswerable questions, old and intractable as the marsh itself. A stunning debut!
Christopher Scotton, author of The Secret Wisdom of the Earth
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A compelling mystery with prose so luminous it can cut through the murkiest of pluff mud.
Augusta Chronicle
“Carries the rhythm of an old time ballad. It is clear Owens knows this land intimately, from the black mud sucking at footsteps to the taste of saltwater and the cry of seagulls.
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A painfully beautiful first novel that is at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature....Owens here surveys the desolate marshlands of the North Carolina coast through the eyes of an abandoned child. And in her isolation that child makes us open our own eyes to the secret wonders—and dangers—of her private world.
The New York Times Book Review
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Steeped in the rhythms and shadows of the coastal marshes of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, this fierce and hauntingly beautiful novel centers on...Kya’s heartbreaking story of learning to trust human connections, intertwine[d] with a gripping murder mystery, revealing savage truths. An astonishing debut.
People
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This lush mystery is perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver.
Bustle
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A lush debut novel, Owens delivers her mystery wrapped in gorgeous, lyrical prose. It’s clear she’s from this place—the land of the southern coasts, but also the emotional terrain—you can feel it in the pages. A magnificent achievement, ambitious, credible and very timely.
Alexandra Fuller, New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
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Heart-wrenching...A fresh exploration of isolation and nature from a female perspective along with a compelling love story.
Entertainment Weekly
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“Owens delivers her mystery wrapped in gorgeous, lyrical prose.”
Alexandra Fuller, New York Times bestselling author
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“It’s just beautiful. I loved every page of it. That little girl Kya stole my heart.”
Reese Witherspoon, Academy Award–winning actress
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“A fresh exploration of isolation and nature from a female perspective along with a compelling love story.”
Entertainment Weekly
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“Owen’s gorgeous novel is both a coming-of-age tale and an engrossing whodunit.”
Real Simple
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“The New Southern novel…A lyrical debut.”
Southern Living
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“Narrator Cassandra Campbell serves up a bushel of Carolina accents in this debut novel by nature writer Delia Owens. Campbell’s accents give the mix of classes and regions in the story the same realistic detail Owens provides for the marsh…Campbell gives us her story in a reverent documentary tone that does justice to the rich descriptions of the natural world that nurtures and fascinates Kya. This story is interspersed with the 1969 murder of the town golden boy, Chase Andrews. The investigation and trial unfurl slowly with a more reportorial tone. Prepare to be enchanted and haunted. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award.”
AudioFile
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“Kya makes for an unforgettable heroine.”
Publishers Weekly
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“With prose luminous as a low-country moon, Owens weaves a compelling tale…a murder mystery/love story/courtroom drama that readers will love, but the novel delves so much deeper into the bone and sinew of our very nature, asking often unanswerable questions, old and intractable as the marsh itself. A stunning debut!”
Christopher Scotton, author of The Secret Wisdom of the Earth
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“Where The Crawdads Sing carries the rhythm of an old time ballad. It is clear Owens knows this land intimately, from the black mud sucking at footsteps to the taste of saltwater and the cry of seagulls.”
David Joy, author of The Line That Held Us