For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens.

Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Celeste Ng, Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

Listening Length

12 hours and 12 minutes
Author

Delia Owens
Narrator

Cassandra Campbell
Audible release date

8 November 2018
Language

English
Publisher

Hachette Audio UK
ASIN

B07K6VMVL5
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
See all details

Read & Listen

Switch between reading the Kindle book & listening to the Audible narration with Whispersync for Voice.
Get the Audible audiobook for the reduced price of $11.99 after you buy the Kindle book.

Get this audiobook free then 1 credit each month, good for any title you like - yours to keep, even if you cancel
Listen all you want to the Plus Catalogue—a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts, including exclusive series
Exclusive member-only deals
$16.45 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime

Learn more about membership

By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice.

Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

People who viewed this also viewed

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

Product details

Listening Length	12 hours and 12 minutes
Author	Delia Owens
Narrator	Cassandra Campbell
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	08 November 2018
Publisher	Hachette Audio UK
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07K6VMVL5
Best Sellers Rank	3 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 1 in Literary Fiction (Books) 1 in Crime Thrillers (Books) 1 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews

5 star		74%
4 star		20%
3 star		4%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Not my taste

Reviewed in Australia on 12 April 2020

Verified Purchase

This was a book club book I had to read, probably would not have selected it for myself. After reading it it confirmed my suspicion. It is so typically American, thin plot, average writing, mushy to the point of “can I go on” and of course, predictable.
The heroine and hero were so unbelievable, the prejudice of the town, predictable, the villain, Chase, predictable. It was like reading a Sandra Dee movie script from the 50’s.
Just gave away my age.
My preference is for Australian and British authors, at least those averages writers are more subtle in their approach to a good story.
So, I do not recommend this book.

66 people found this helpful

Helpful

tony jacobs

A wonderful read!

Reviewed in Australia on 1 July 2019

Verified Purchase

Kya is abandoned by her siblings, her tormented mother and eventually by her drunken father to live by herself in a crumbling cabin in the marshes with no electricity or running water. Her only friends are an old negro couple who help her with clothing and basic supplies. She survives by selling mussels and fish and by foraging. Her love of the marsh, the sea and all the birds and critters who thrive around her are shared with Tate, a local boy but he too eventually abandons her. She is wooed by a local town jock, who convinces her that he’ll marry her but brutally rapes her. When he’s found murdered, she’s charged and you’ll just have to read it to find out what happened! A beautifully written story with characters so well developed and spellbinding descriptions of the marsh and all who inhabit it. I found myself in tears several times and couldn’t put it down!!!

13 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jeni Robinson aka Jennifer Larmar - Australian Author

Definitely in the Top 5 of My Favourite Books

Reviewed in Australia on 31 August 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a beautiful though heartbreaking novel, packed with exquisite descriptive prose as it tells a shocking story of abandonment, neglect, survival, awakening and finally hope, and all woven around a murder mystery set in marshlands on the outskirts of a North Carolina coastal town during the 1950s and 60s.

Kya is a shy, skinny six year-old when her mother suddenly up and leaves home - a tiny shack housing a handful of kids, a drunken husband and not much else. Within a few short months, all of Kya’s siblings have deserted her too, until it’s only this innocent little mite and her cold-hearted pa left - and even he’s only there intermittently when alcohol isn’t addling his brain and makin’ him ornery.

For several years, Kya has to fight to survive on grits, a few mussels and not much else as she ekes out a living from the swamp she calls home.

The novel’s pages are riddled with racial tensions and those age-old discrimations simmering between the rich and affluent and that ‘poor white trash’, while bringing to life a story about a young child surviving on next to nothing while harbouring an endless expectation that things will someday get better.

Delia Owens’ characters were all rich and diverse, and each one made me either angry or grateful depending on their role in Kya’s unique and meagre life. Jumpin’ and Mabel brought a glimpse of hope and care into her sad, bleak existence, so much so, I wanted to climb inside the pages to offer them my thanks for seeing a need and doing their best to meet it.

Then there was Tate - I fell in love with this young man right from his first entrance into Kya’s lonely world, despite his choice once he went away to college. A young man who was such a warm light in her personal darkness, and showed a kind and generous heart towards a neglected though resilient young child. Somehow he saw beyond this scruffy waif with nature as her only company - one who knew it’s intricacies better than most - and yet, as a teenager, still had no inkling as to what came after the number twenty-nine. Tate was a true example of being raised by caring parents who taught him to practice kindness, and most especially in one particular portion when Kya was coming of age. I wanted to give him a hug for his sensitivity and concern. He was the kind of friend everyone needs, especially a lonely young outcast.

This was a book I didn’t want to end, although many times my heart ached for this precious little child/young woman alone in that desolate place. It is a heart-wrenching story, yet it’s also peppered with uplifting little nuggets just when you feel your heart breaking into tiny fragments from another of life’s bitter blows falling upon Kya’s scrawny shoulders.

The author’s word pictures were exquisite and my soul eagerly gathered up all of those vivid images she made, like this one....
“She laughed for his sake, something she had never done. Giving away another piece of herself just to have someone else.“

And then there was this longer more poignant piece that had me wishing I was there to eavesdrop and watch everything from inside the shadowy overhang of a weeping willow...
“Kya leaned closer to him, not enough to touch. But she felt a sensation – almost like the space between their shoulders had shifted. She wondered if [he] felt it. She wanted to lean in closer, just enough so their arms would gently brush together. To touch. And wondered if [he] would notice.
And just at that second, the wind picked up, and thousands upon thousands of yellow sycamore leaves broke from their life-support and strained across the sky. Autumn leaves don’t fall; they fly. They take their time and wander on this, their only chance to soar. Reflecting sunlight, they swirled and sailed and fluttered on the wind drafts ... and the two of them leapt and skipped through curtains of falling leaves, reaching their arms wide, snatching them before they fell to the earth...
As she ran back through them, they caught like gold in her hair ... the leaves rained and danced around them as silently as snow … He lifted a leaf gently from her hair and dropped it to the ground. Her heart beat wildly. Of all the ragged loves she’s known from wayward family, none had felt like this…
And for the first time in her life, her heart was full.” (There are more magnificent word pictures nestled in between those ellipses, but I didn’t want to give everything away from this poignant piece of prose ... hopefully, this little skerrick will make you want to read it all for yourself!)

Another portion that grabbed my heart was, “His eyes were the same as they had been. Faces change with life’s toll, but eyes remain a window to what was, and she could see him there.”

The novel’s title sums up Kya’s raw way of life perfectly as the meaning behind the expression ‘Where the crawdads sing’ is ‘...far in the bush where critters are wild, still behaving like critters.’

I take my hat off to the author for writing this both tragic yet moving piece of perfection, and highly recommend it to everyone. Definitely a 10/10 from this awe-filled lover of words, and most assuredly one I’ll read over and over as long as I have breath to do so. It actually took far longer than expected to finish, but only because I wanted to savour every morsel - and some portions were read again and again to grasp every hidden facet purely for the gold found in each one.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Hobbes

bookclub pick

Reviewed in Australia on 27 March 2019

Verified Purchase

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this story at all. I found the story flawed in many ways and did not enjoy the writing style. It was a book club title so was able to finsih it but also found the ending lacklustre and it did not improve the book.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

A must read

Reviewed in Australia on 22 January 2020

Verified Purchase

I won't go into detail about the storyline of this wonderful read, as that is covered in the commentary in the kindle purchase.
There are 2 things that I want in a book. Firstly not wanting to put it down and not wanting the book to end, both were met to a high degree. I loved everything about this thought provoking, beautifully written book.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

leah

So Beautiful, the end had me crying like a baby.

Reviewed in Australia on 30 May 2019

Verified Purchase

Yes I gave a this book rare 5 stars, usually this type of descriptive, flowery writing is not my cup of tea. Some books I finish in a couple of days, this one took me a couple of weeks, so not a light read. Is it just me but the start really reminded me of Heaven by Virginia Andrews, poor girl living in the swaps / hills with awful hillbilly parents and judging towns folk? Then it dramatically changed to a murder, mystery this was my favourite part and had me hook line and sinker. I didn't guess the killer, but then again, I never do. I thought it was his wife lol.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

MJ Pallisier

Unusual crime novel

Reviewed in Australia on 3 February 2020

Verified Purchase

I just loved this book. As a mystery novel, it was so different to the usual novels. Writing is just beautiful. After I finished I looked up author to buy another book. Her other 3 works are scientific which explains a lot about this book. It is a reasonably short book but so many things are revealed in the last few pages. Things you probably did not work out yourself as a reader. I could not put it down.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Marta Guerra

Loneliness, love & a great ending

Reviewed in Australia on 17 July 2021

Verified Purchase

I have just read this book for the 2nd time & loved it just as much as the 1st. It's a wonderful, heartbreaking story of loneliness & wanting, interwoven with a deep love and understanding of nature and through nature, life.

Delia Owens writes beautiful, descriptive and often poetic prose bringing an understanding of how rejection, ridicule & cruelty drives a person to shut themselves away, while still craving acceptance, and how love and understanding can open up a whole new world.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Eliza

Complete claptrap

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 July 2019

Verified Purchase

This story of a six-year-old child left to fend for herself in a Carolina swamp when her stereotype swamp-trash likker-sluggin' pa finally doesn't come home again (we're not told why - hopefully an alligator ate him), is an exercise in cliches. We are asked to believe that this beautiful (natch), sensitive, artistic blah blah little girl raises herself from barefoot illiteracy to womanhood and published fame as a naturalist, with three self-illustrated books on marshland flora and fauna. She is taught to read and overnight to abandon her swamp patois for highbrow English by, gosh, a boy who falls in love with her, and manages to educate her to university level with some textbooks. Said boy, having achieved this Pygmalion-like transformation, then departs to do his own high-class degree, promising to return to his true love, who hangs around the swamp waiting. But he doesn't return because alas! he realises she is a wild creature, a child of nature who would never fit into civilisation, and so on. So he passes on coming back to claim her and Swamp Girl's heart broken. She has a fling with the baddie of the piece, another walking cliche - handsome, privileged, all the girls want to go to the prom with him - and predictably he breaks her heart by marrying an appropriate girl who wears shoes and pearls. Really at this point I was ready to give up on the novel, but there is a murder involved and I wanted to find out whodunnit. The murder itself is just a device and fails hopelessly. The trial is ludicrous, the murder allegations are based on evidence that no prosecuting counsel, fictional or otherwise, would have even remotely considered sound, and the attempts to build suspense during the jury's deliberations are just plain silly.

If this flimsy and wholly ridiculous plot line were in any way to be redeemed, it might have been through quality of writing because of the interesting environment of the swamp and its wildlife, but even in this the novel fails. The only passable passages are indeed the ones in which Ms Owens describes the swamp life. The dialogue is ridiculous, the love scenes are stitched together out of worn-out cliches, and the suspension of disbelief required of the reader is just asking way too much.

I have no doubt that Delia Owens is an excellent naturalist and ecologist and an asset to her field. But as a novelist, she doesn't cut it. Don't waste your money on this book.

1,692 people found this helpful

countrygirl

Total claptrap

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 April 2020

Verified Purchase

What a ridiculous book The only redeeming feature was the descriptions of the marshlands - all the rest was unreadable rubbish. Absurd plot, dreadful dialogue, terrible sex scenes - absolutely nothing to recommend this over-acclaimed novel. The notion of an illiterate marsh girl self-educating to the level of an academic research scientist beggars belief. Then the appalling poetry! I wish I had given it up long before I struggled to finish it. I couldn’t be bothered in the end - and I hate to abandon a novel.

583 people found this helpful

docholden

Too unrealistic to enjoy

Reviewed in the United States on 29 October 2018

Verified Purchase

I was very disappointed in this book after reading all the hype about it. While the reading is good, the story is so nonsensical- a 6 year old left alone in a shack raises herself, living in the same shack, using the same boat, and no one lifts a hand to help her? In more than 20 years, the boat never breaks down, the house doesn't need repairs and she's able to wear the same clothes for many years....she's got long hair that she says is ratty and tangled but description s of it has it down her back, luxurious...she's gorgeous but bathing is optional until in her 20s...she has sex with a philanderer but never gets a vd and not once apparently does she get sick. No flu, cold, nothing....she never got shots and apparently has the immune system of a super hero because she stepped on a nail and never got tetanus....I kept reading so I'd finish and the ending is unexpected but it's generally a boring book where day after day, she's alone in the marsh....

6,502 people found this helpful

Lou

Most irritating book I've read in a long time!

Reviewed in the United States on 28 January 2019

Verified Purchase

I was sure I would like this book..and actually finished it. I grew more irritated with each page by the last half. I grew up in coastal North Carolina and was born in the 40s, so would be the same age as the main characters. It was clear that the author did not do her research about the area and about what would be plausible at the time of the story. When she mentioned real towns, she should have known Asheville would not be the destination city from the coast, especially in the 60s. Ma's old cardboard suitcase that had been in the closet in the marsh for 19 years would be covered in mildew, Fireflies would have been called lightening bugs. No boy in a small town in NC would have been named either Tate or Chase in 40s, more recent popular names. I could go on and on. The inconsistencies in the dialect was grating, and many parts of the story were just not believable to me. I am amazed that so many people loved the book and the poetry.

5,332 people found this helpful

chocolateg

Huge disappointment.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 February 2019

Verified Purchase

After all the rave reviews I was expecting something exceptional but was completely underwhelmed. I felt the the characters were underdeveloped and the plot rushed and implausible. Wish I’d saved my money and waited until i could pick up a cheaper secondhand copy.

442 people found this helpful

See all reviews

Where the Crawdads Sing Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Read & Listen

Free with Audible Trial $0.00

Pay with 1-Click $37.98

People who viewed this also viewed

Product details

Customer reviews

Review this product

Reviews with images

Read reviews that mention

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Free with Audible Trial

$0.00

Pay with 1-Click

$37.98