Author: Delia Owens
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Release Date: March 30, 2021
A fantastic debut novel that has me kicking myself for not picking it up and reading it sooner! Storytelling at its very best!
In the mid-1900s, a young girl is abandoned by everyone in her family and left to fend for herself in the Marshes of Barkley Cover in North Carolina. Kya Clark watched her mother walk away followed by her siblings and finally her drunken father. She keeps to herself and finds ways to make enough money to survive and avoid the authorities looking to get her in school. She is referred to as the “Marsh Girl” by everyone in town and does her best to avoid everyone she can until she meets a boy who captures her heart. Tate helps Kya feel like she is not such an outcast and they grow close until he leaves for college and she is once again alone. She also grows close to Chase Andrews until he betrays her. When Chase is found dead, Kya is immediately the first suspect. Kya has always been different but is she a murderer?
This book is many different things: it is intense, it is fun, it is intriguing and stunning as a debut novel. I’ve seen a few different reviews get nitpicky about certain aspects of the novel dealing with setting and some of the dialect but honestly that will not be a problem for most readers. I picked this up on a whim after hearing many people talk about it and zipped through it in two days. I was immediately drawn into the story and the way the characters were written. There is so much depth to Kya and growth as a character, this story works because of her. Following her through every traumatic event starting with her mom leaving her followed by the rest of her family until she is all alone and learning how to survive will leave the readers full of empathy for her and rooting for her to not only survive but find a way to thrive. My heart ached for her with each new tragedy she faced and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough in order to find out what was going to happen. I will say the ending had me smiling with how the story was wrapped up. This book has been out for a while and I’m a little late in the game reading this one but can’t wait to see how the story plays out in the movie. Readers that enjoy a great historical novel will not want to miss this one. I usually don’t enjoy historical type books but this one was so much better than I ever expected it to be.
Write - Read - Life 