BOOK REVIEW

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

BY DELIA OWENS

Where The Crawdads Sing requires a patient reader. It promises a murder mystery, but this quickly takes a backseat to the story of a girl surviving in isolated North Carolina marshland. Kya, left to fend for herself at a young age, interacts with few humans and spends her time in the wild. This makes for some beautiful descriptive passages of a landscape that will be unfamiliar to most readers, but leads to some trouble with pacing. Nevertheless, the strength of the story comes from the sympathetic portrait of its heroine who cannot fail to captivate, right up until the surprising end.

6/10

Alys Key

Published in hardback by Corsair, priced £14.99 (ebook £9.99). Available January 17