Where the Crawdads Sing is a novel written by Delia Owens and was first published in August 2018. Delia Owens, an American author, is known for her background in wildlife biology and her love for nature, which heavily influenced the themes in the book. The novel is set in the mid-20th century and primarily takes place in the marshes of North Carolina's coastal region.

The story revolves around the life of Kya Clark, a young girl who becomes known as the "Marsh Girl" due to her isolated upbringing in the marshlands. Abandoned by her family at a young age, Kya learns to survive on her own, living off the land and forming an extraordinary bond with the natural world around her. The novel alternates between Kya's upbringing and the investigation of a mysterious death that occurs in the town years later.

Plot Summary

When the novel begins, Kya is a seven-year-old living in a marshland shack with her parents and siblings. Because of Kya's abusive father, whom she calls Pa, Kya's mother abandons their family and takes the youngest siblings with her. The rest of Kya’s siblings leave on their own shortly after, and Pa and Kya are left alone. Pa neglects Kya and spends most of his time drinking and gambling, though he does teach Kya how to fish and gives her a backpack to collect shells and feathers. Kya begins to rely on the marsh as a source of comfort and protection from the abuse at home. Three years later, Kya's father also leaves the shack, and she must learn to survive on her own.

Kya learns to fend for herself and manages to survive on the marsh’s resources; she gardens on her own and trades mussels and smoked fish with Jumpin’, the owner of a local gas station. Jumpin’ and his wife, Mabel, look out for Kya during these years and supply her with donated clothes. 

An older boy named Tate Walker meets Kya in her early teens, and the two become friends. Tate teaches Kya to read and gives her books and a makeshift education before he leaves for college. Tate leaves without saying goodbye to Kya, and Kya feels betrayed and abandoned without her friend and mentor. While Tate is at college, Kya meets a popular local boy named Chase Andrews, who invites her to a picnic and tries to have sex with her. She refuses, but the two continue to see each other and go on dates together.

Tate returns to North Carolina to conduct research on the biology of the marshland in Barkley Cove, where Kya lives. When Tate returns, he discovers that Kya has continued to collect and document seashells, and he encourages her to get her work published as a reference book. Tate also warns Kya about Chase, and while he says he does so because of Chase’s poor treatment of women, it is clear that Tate's main motivation is to rekindle his own relationship with Kya. But Kya is still hurt by Tate’s abandonment and refuses his advances. She continues seeing Chase and gives him a rawhide necklace with a shell he found on one of their dates together.  

Chase expresses his hopes to marry Kya, and Kya consents to having sex with him. Not long after, Kya reads in the newspaper that Chase has become engaged to another girl; devastated by this news, Kya realizes that Chase has manipulated her into having sex.

Kya eventually sends her seashell research to publishers and has her work published when she is in her early twenties. One day, Kya's brother Jodie finds...