Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Where the Crawdads Sing | 2018 | Delia Owens | Buy |
Where the Crawdads Sing (2018) is Delia Owens’s only novel and one of the most commercially successful debuts in recent publishing history. The book follows Kya Clark from her childhood in the 1950s marshlands of North Carolina, where she is abandoned by her family one by one and learns to survive alone. The story weaves between Kya’s coming-of-age and a 1969 murder investigation in which she is the main suspect.
The novel spent more than 150 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was adapted into a film in 2022. Owens drew on her background as a wildlife scientist to create vivid descriptions of the marsh ecosystem that serves as both Kya’s refuge and her prison. The book appeals to readers who enjoy literary fiction blended with mystery.