Where the Crawdads Sing

by Delia Owens

a bullfrog, six inches wide, hunkered under foliage. A common enough sight, except this frog was completely and brilliantly white.

Tate watched her for a second, no longer thinking about frogs. He stepped toward her purposely. His expression stopped her in front of a broad oak. He took her shoulders and pushed her firmly against the tree. Holding her arms along her sides, he kissed her, his groin pushing against hers. Since Christmas they had kissed and explored slowly; not like this. He had always taken the lead but had watched her questioningly for signs to desist;

She didn’t know raw nakedness could bring such want. He whispered his hands against her inner thighs, and instinctively she stepped each foot to the side slightly. His fingers moved between her legs and slowly massaged parts of her she never knew existed.

1969

1961

All hope gone to neutral.

Jodie had taught her that the female firefly flickers the light under her tail to signal to the male that she’s ready to mate.

Each species of firefly has its own language of flashes.

Then, as Jodie had put it, they rubbed their bottoms together like most things did, so they could produce young.

one of the females had changed her code. First she flashed the proper sequence of dashes and dots, attracting a male of her species, and they mated. Then she flickered a different signal, and a male of a different species flew to her. Reading her message, the second male was convinced he’d found a willing female of his own kind and hovered above her to mate. But suddenly the female firefly reached up, grabbed him with her mouth, and ate him, chewing all six legs and both wings.

Kya watched others. The females got what they wanted—first a mate, then a meal—just b...

She sent her toes on missions to scout for cool spots between the sheets, but they found none.

Finally, she made a mush of hot water and grits and headed to the beach to feed the gulls.

and threw her head back, smiling with them. Even as tears streamed her cheeks.

A pain as large as her heart lived in her chest.

Months passed into another year. Then another.

1965

Their squeals made Kya’s silence even louder.

Their togetherness tugged at her loneliness, but she knew being labeled as marsh trash kept her behind the oak tree.

KYA DIDN’T KNOW, but Tate had come back to see her.

autoclave,

After she moved away, he got into his boat and motored back toward the ocean. Swearing at the coward inside who would not tell her good-bye.

into the creamy light of a three-quarter moon.

Point Beach unfolded into the water like a brilliant white fan.

“Oh,” she said, “you play.” The words felt rough on her tongue.

reminders that the sea owned this land.

1969

Dag-nabit,” Joe said.

1965

old song “Michael Row the Boat Ashore,” a yearning and melodic tune sung by slaves in the 1860s as they rowed boats to the mainland from the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Ma

she’d tilt her head just so to catch the sound.

“Squint yo’ ears,” Jodie used to say.

bags of tricks to fool the females. They parade their smaller forms around in pumped-up postures or shout frequently—even if in shrill voices.

The imposter males were referred to as “sneaky fuckers.”

The penis of the male damselfly is equipped with a small scoop, which removes sperm ejected by a previous opponent before he supplies his own.

then moved across her belly, light as a thought.

Kya stepped out of the grocery and nearly bumped right into Chase’s parents—Sam and Patti Love.

1966

1969

1967

1967

1968

• • THE NEXT NOON there was a note from Tate

To the Feather Boy Thank you From the Marsh Girl

“I’m okay now, Jumpin’. Thank you, and thank Mabel for all you did for me.” He stared at her. In another time and place, an old black man and a young white woman might have hugged. But not there, not then. She covered his hand with hers, turned, and motored away.

1969

1968

Kya made a soft groan. “Please don’t talk to me about isolation.

No one has to tell me how it changes a person. I have lived it.

I am isolation,” Kya ...