10 Books Like ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ to Read Until the Movie Comes Out in July

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Published May 27, 2022

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For most of 2018, it seemed like everyone and their mother was talking about Where the Crawdads Sing. Written by Delia Owens, the novel follows a girl named Kya, who grew up in the North Carolina marshes. Everything changes when the police suspect she’s involved in the murder of a local man from her past.

Readers loved the book for its unflinchingly strong protagonist, its celebration of nature and its captivating crime plotline. Unsurprisingly, Hollywood took notice, and it was announced that the book would be adapted into a film produced by Reese Witherspoon and starring Daisy Edgar Jones (Normal People) as Kya. If you devoured Owens's book and are eagerly awaiting the film's release on July 15, we highly recommend picking up one of these similar titles about surviving against all odds, the great outdoors and more.

1. My Abandonment by Peter Rock

Inspired by a true story, My Abandonment follows 13-year-old Caroline and her father, who live in an enormous nature preserve in Portland, Oregon. Not in a house, though, in an elaborate cave shelter. They bathe in a nearby creek, use a makeshift septic system and even keep a library of sorts. Once a week they go to the city to buy groceries, but one small mistake allows a backcountry jogger to discover them, which derails their entire existence, ultimately provoking a deeper flight.

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2. The Wildlands by Abby Geni

When a Category 5 tornado hits Mercy, Oklahoma, the McCloud siblings—Darlene, Tucker, Jane and Cora—lose their house and their father (having already lost their mother). Darlene, the eldest, gives up on her plans for college to look after her siblings and Tucker abandons his sisters and disappears for three years, returning only after he’s rebranded himself as an eco-terrorist in the wake of a cosmetics factory bombing. Injured from the explosion, Tucker enlists 9-year-old Cora as his caretaker and unwitting accomplice. The two go on the lam, traveling west to carry out Tucker’s plan to wreak havoc on anyone who contributes to the mistreatment of animals. Fast-paced and gripping to the last page, The Wildlands is a fascinating look at the tension between activism and fanaticism and between the human and animal worlds.

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3. The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne

To the outside world, Helena's life is amazing: She has a loving husband, two beautiful daughters and a successful business. But she's also keeping the secret that she's the product of an abduction. Her mother was kidnapped as a teenager by her father and kept in a remote cabin in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. More than 20 years later, not even her husband knows the truth. But when her father kills two guards and escapes from prison, it becomes clear that only one person has the skills to find him: his daughter.

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4. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

In this 2018 bestseller, a desperate family impulsively decides to seek a new beginning in the wilderness of 1970s Alaska. Living off the grid in America's last true frontier, they come to find that their unpredictable environment is less threatening than the people around them.

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5. Where The Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward

Ward's (Sing, Unburied, Sing) debut novel follows twin brothers, Joshua and Christophe, as they're raised by their grandmother on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The twins have just finished high school and need jobs, but after Hurricane Katrina, it's not easy. Joshua gets work on the docks, but Christophe's not so lucky and starts to sell drugs. Taking place over the course of a single, life-changing summer, Where the Line Bleeds is a powerful story about brotherhood, the grind of poverty, the toll of addiction on a family and more.

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6. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Calling all nature lovers. Prodigal Summer tells the story of a small town in Appalachia over one humid summer, as three interweaving stories of love and loss unfold amid the lush wildness of the Virginia mountains. There's Deanna, a solitary woman working as a park ranger, Lusa, a recently widowed woman clashing with her late husband's family and Garnett, an older man who dreams of restoring the lineage of the extinct American Chestnut tree.

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7. Beasts Of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang

Weylyn Grey was born in a blizzard, orphaned and believed to be raised by wolves. Despite all that, folks who encounter him say that once Weylyn wanders into your world, you'll wish he'd never leave. But what makes him so special? Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance is the story of Weylyn's journey, told from the perspective of those who knew him, loved him or were bewildered by him along the way.

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8. All The Ugly And Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

As the daughter of a drug dealer, 8-year-old Wavy knows not to trust people—not even her own parents. Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, she's obsessed with the constellations, finding peace in the starry night sky. One night, her stargazing causes an accident and leads to an unlikely bond between Wavy and Kellen, an ex-con who works with her dad. By the time Wavy is a teenager, her relationship with Kellen is the only tender thing in her world, but when tragedy rips Wavy's family apart and a well-meaning aunt steps in, what's beautiful to Wavy looks ugly under the scrutiny of the outside world.

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9. Educated by Tara Westover

Born to survivalists in Idaho, Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. But when one of her brothers gets himself into college, Westover is determined to try a new kind of life. Her compelling memoir charts her quest for knowledge from Harvard and Cambridge University and beyond.

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books like where the crawdads sing tallent

10. My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent

Fourteen-year-old Turtle is a survivor. After the death of her mother, she's grown up in the woods along the northern California coast in the thrall of her tortured and charismatic father, Martin. At her middle school, she fends off the interest of anyone, student or teacher, who might approach her. Then she meets Jacob, a boy who's life is entirely different from Turtle's but who's nonetheless enthralled by her. Motivated by her first experience with real friendship and a teenage crush, Turtle starts to imagine escape, using the very survival skills her father devoted himself to teaching her.

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Sarah Stiefvater

Wellness Director

Oversees wellness content
PureWow's resident book reviewer
Has worked in lifestyle media for 11 years

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