A World Apart: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Wonderful. Lyrical. Haunting. I could hardly put this book down.

A young white girl, barely old enough to go to school, is gradually abandoned by her family members, and is left to fend for herself in an isolated shack outside a tiny town in the marshlands along the the North Carolina coast, circa the early 1950s.

Catherine, called by her nickname, Kya, was the youngest child of a couple whose lives were a struggle. They descended into poverty and despair resulting from what much later became known as PTSD, and alcoholism, violence and depression drove away the older children, their mother, and the next to youngest child, leaving Kya alone with her father, who after some periods of relative calm, eventually disappeared.

Kya had a deep love of her surroundings and the wildlife that resided there. She had learned some skills from her mother, father and Jodie, her last brother to leave, and with her native intelligence and her father's boat, she made her way. She remained reclusive and wild, but over time she formed a close bond with Jumpin', the African-American man who ran a small business selling gas and basic provisions to shrimpers and other boaters, and his wife, Mabel. A few others in the town were aware of her situation and helped her in their quiet way, but never letting on – like the truant officer who brought her to school for one day, but left her alone after she ran away from the taunts of her classmates. They called her Marsh Girl and made cruel comments about her, as children do.

Tate was a young boy who had been a friend of Jodie, became aware of Kya living on her own, and gradually won her trust. He too, had a deep appreciation of marshlands, its birds and water life. As time went on, he taught her to read and brought her small gifts, like a rare feather for her collection, but later her first bakery-made birthday cake after finding out the date through the town records.

Kya grew into a beautiful teenager, and on one of her visits to town for supplies, caught the eye of Chase, the town's golden boy – the richest, most popular and most athletic big fish in a very small pond. It's not hard to guess that this ultimately would not end well...but what follows is not entirely the usual trajectory of events, and this is the story you must read for yourself.

Author Delia Owens is wildlife scientist and the author of non-fiction books in her field, making her well-prepared to present the milieu of her first novel. It is truly an extraordinary book, and the only question I have is what she might produce next. Bravo, Ms. Owens for this amazing fiction debut.