Where the Crawdads Sing

by Delia Owens

when men came back broke

and broke-up. The marsh did not confine them but defined them and, like any sacred ground, kept their secrets deep.

When cornered, desperate, or isolated, man reverts to those instincts that aim straight at survival. Quick and just. They will always be the trump cards because they are passed on more frequently from one generation to the next than the gentler genes. It is not a morality, but simple math. Among themselves, doves fight as often as hawks.