On My Nightstand

This first novel by Delia Owens was a #1 New York Times bestselling book and has been made into a full-length motion picture. I can understand its popularity. Where the Crawdads Sing is a beautifully written book whose characters are inextricably entwined in that opaque mix of good and evil (both inside and outside the human heart) which entangle us all. So, weaving in and around heartbreaking loss, cowardice, betrayal, deception, shattered love, death, and murder, you will find beautiful moments of tenderness, forgiveness redemption, peace, and joy, poetry and art. It is all there, impossible to untangle, just like our own lives.

One last thing. In Where the Crawdads Sing, you will also get a good reminder of just how deep and mysterious a woman’s heart really is. I found a poem by Connie Lee-Blackshear that tells you all that you need to know about the main character, Kya:

The Depths of a Woman’s heart is so vast, so wide, so deep;
Holding secrets never to be told.
Just as the ocean blue, holding souls of the lost and loved,
Her heart holds pains no human will ever understand.
Yet and still, she carries on!