When I picked this up, I didn’t realize it was a murder mystery despite that being on the cover quote from the New York Time Book Review. I was happy when I realized it would fill a Read Challenge category and even happier after reading it. I loved this book. It’s Delia Owens’ first novel and I find that so impressive. Somewhere along the way I saw someone say fans of Barbara Kingsolver would enjoy this story and they were right. What I love about Kingsolver, all the background on nature etc, was also what I loved about this story.

Kya, the main character, was abandoned by her entire family at a very young age. This was hard for me to swallow – that her parents and all her brothers and sisters would leave her behind. The siblings had to escape the alcoholic abusive father and I understand that, yet I don’t understand why one of them wouldn’t have taken Kya with them. Anyway, with the help of a few people Kya learns to be self-sufficient in the family shack in the marsh of Barkley Cove, NC. And by few, I mean three. A young boy her age, Tate, and an older gentleman called Jumpin who owns a store off the marsh. Jumpin’s wife Mabel becomes a care-taker to Kya as well. Eventually, popular boy Chase Andrews is added to the mix and that’s where things start to sour. Chase is found dead and Kya is charged with his murder.

I won’t go into any spoilers regarding the murder. My favorite part of the book is when Tate finds Kya’s nature paintings and descriptions, after he helps her to learn to read. She goes on to sell these as book collections and is able to make a living while continuing her solitary life in the marsh. My least favorite is all the poems by Amanda Hamilton! I can’t even say why but I would eye roll whenever one would come up. Of course, at the end, it makes sense why there were so many but until then…eye-roll city. This is a great, easy story and I would recommend it to anyone.

Self-Help – soulful simplicity by courtney carver

See my previous post about this one! soulful simplicity – A Good Reminder from courtney carver

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