9 Captivating Insights About Delia Owens's 'Where the Crawdads Sing'

Upon its release in 2018, Where the Crawdads Sing emerged as an unexpected bestseller, selling over 12 million copies, securing the New York Times bestseller list multiple times, and being adapted into a film released on July 15. Delia Owens’s debut novel (though not her first book) chronicles the life of Kya, a young girl left to fend for herself in the marshes of North Carolina after her family abandons her. As an adult, she faces accusations of murdering a well-known local figure. The novel seamlessly weaves together a coming-of-age story, a survival thriller, a romance, a mystery, and a deep reflection on nature. Here are some intriguing details to enhance your understanding.

1. The book’s title was inspired by a phrase from Delia Owens’s mother.

The title Where the Crawdads Sing originates from Owens’s mother, who urged her daughter to venture into the forests near their Georgia home with the words, “Go way out yonder where the crawdads sing.”

Owens later discovered that the phrase isn’t meant literally—it symbolizes being so immersed in nature that you can perceive sounds otherwise unnoticed. “I read in a book that crawdads don’t actually sing,” she explained to Lee Cowan of Sunday Morning. “But my mother taught me that if you venture far enough into the wild, alone, with nothing but nature around you, you’ll hear the crawdads sing.” Following the interview, searches for the term crawdad on Merriam-Webster surged by 1200 percent.

2. Owens authored a highly successful memoir.

Before penning Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens collaborated with her then-husband Mark on three memoirs detailing their African adventures. Their debut work, 1984’s Cry of the Kalahari, became a bestseller and earned the 1985 John Burroughs Medal, an accolade celebrating exceptional natural history literature.

3. The narrative drew inspiration from animal behavior.

Owens, holding a B.S. in zoology and a Ph.D. in animal behavior (from the University of Georgia and the University of California, Davis, respectively), spent over 20 years in Africa studying wildlife. She was particularly intrigued by the prevalence of “strong female social groups” among animals. This observation sparked an idea: “I was determined to craft a novel examining the impact of isolation on individuals, particularly women,” she shared with BookPage, “and how the instinctual behaviors I observed in nature could influence the narrative.”

4. Owens’s personal experiences also shaped the novel.

Much like her protagonist Kya, Owens has experienced a life of solitude. “This novel is deeply rooted in my own life,” the author explained to Northern Virginia Magazine, clarifying, “While the plot isn’t based on true events and Kya isn’t a real person, there’s a lot of me in her … like Kya, I’m an outdoors enthusiast, passionate about nature, and have dedicated my life to studying wildlife and ecosystems, often living in remote wilderness areas.”

Releasing Where the Crawdads Sing transformed Owens’s life. “The novel explores the theme of loneliness,” the author shared on her Facebook page. “Having lived a secluded and solitary life, the overwhelming response from my readers has made me feel connected and no longer alone.”

5. Owens crafted the ending before anything else.

Without revealing spoilers, the highly discussed conclusion of Where the Crawdads Sing was the first part Owens penned. “The ending struck me suddenly, so I began there,” she revealed to Entertainment Weekly in 2018. “Afterward, I revisited the beginning and intertwined the two narratives, leading back to the finale. Merging the characters, clues, and natural elements like feathers and shells was an exhilarating process.” The ending remains Owens’s favorite aspect of the book.

6. However, the novel’s structure posed challenges for the author.

Where the Crawdads Sing alternates between two timelines, a technique Owens initially found manageable. “The early drafts weren’t too difficult,” she told EW. “But during editing, when I adjusted the placement of certain time shifts, it became a logistical nightmare. Ensuring every detail aligned correctly with the revised timeline was like solving a massive 150,000-word puzzle.”

7. The unprecedented success of the book took the publishing world by surprise.

Despite a decline in adult fiction sales in recent years, even among well-known authors, Where the Crawdads Sing stands out as an exception. “In my 30 years in the industry, I’ve never witnessed anything like this,” Jaci Updike, president of sales for Penguin Random House (the parent company of Crawdad publisher G. P. Putnam’s Sons), told The New York Times in 2019. “This book has defied all expectations. Typically, we rely on comparison titles for sales forecasts, but in this case, no comparisons apply.”

8. The novel has garnered admiration from several celebrities.

Notable fans of the book include Reese Witherspoon and Taylor Swift. Witherspoon, who selected the novel for her Hello Sunshine book club in 2018 and produced its film adaptation, described Where the Crawdads Sing as “a heartfelt tribute to southern upbringing.” Swift, inspired by the book, composed an original song titled “Carolina,” which features on the film’s soundtrack.

9. Some have drawn parallels between the plot of Where the Crawdads Sing and an actual criminal case.

In the 1980s, after relocating to Zambia, the Owenses joined anti-poaching initiatives, collaborating with game scouts to apprehend poachers. Their appearance on The Tonight Show caught the attention of television producer Janice Tomlin, who invited them to feature in a documentary about elephant poaching.

During a filming session, a suspected poacher was shot multiple times on camera. Mark and Delia were absent during the incident. Years later, The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Goldberg located the cameraman, who identified Christopher Owens, Mark’s son from a prior relationship, as the shooter. Authorities also informed Goldberg that Mark was suspected of concealing the body after it vanished.

The shooting was broadcast in a 1996 episode of Turning Point titled “Deadly Game: The Mark and Delia Owens Story.” That same year, the Owenses departed Zambia, claiming it was a pre-planned trip to Europe and the U.S. for fundraising. Their conservation project was raided, and their assets were confiscated by the Zambian government, which they attributed to a few corrupt officials. To this day, Zambian authorities seek to question the Owenses about the incident, which both Mark and Delia, now divorced, deny any involvement in. Christopher Owens also reportedly denied any role, according to Goldberg.

Some speculate that this incident influenced the plot of Where the Crawdads Sing. When questioned about the case in 2019, Delia Owens responded, “I was not involved. … There was never a case, nothing … It’s painful to address, but it mirrors what Kya endured—being labeled. … You must stay strong and keep moving forward. I’ve faced charging elephants before.”