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Where the Crawdads Sing has a little of everything: the North Carolina marshes, a girl who raises herself in the wild, a love story and a murder trial. The books our editors have picked below share its powerful sense of place, its outsider heroines and its pull between heartbreak and hope.
What to look for in a Where the Crawdads Sing readalike
Look for a landscape that is almost a character, a heroine who has had to become self-reliant too young, and a story that moves between tenderness and real danger. Several of these are book club favourites for the same reason Crawdads was: they are easy to fall into and give you plenty to talk about afterwards.
Our pick of books like Where the Crawdads Sing
- The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
A family heads for the Alaskan wilderness in 1974; a coming-of-age story where the land is as dangerous and beautiful as the people. - Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
A brilliant chemist in 1960s America refuses to be sidelined; the other runaway book club hit of recent years.Reviewed by Joanne Owen - The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman
A lighthouse keeper and his wife on a remote island keep a baby that washes ashore, with heartbreaking consequences.Reviewed by Sarah Broadhurst - Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Another solitary woman slowly letting the world in; funny, sad and ultimately uplifting.Reviewed by Sarah Broadhurst - The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Two sisters in occupied France take very different paths to survive; sweeping, emotional and made for discussion. - The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
A childless couple homesteading in 1920s Alaska build a girl out of snow - and a real girl appears in the woods. - Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
A widow working night shifts at an aquarium is befriended by a very clever octopus; gentle, warm and quietly moving.Reviewed by Joanne Owen - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
A boy born into poverty in the Appalachian mountains tells his own story; a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Who chose these books, and why that matters
This is not a list pulled from a bestseller chart. Every title here was read and chosen by the LoveReading editorial panel, and we turn far more books down than we put forward.
The panel includes a judge of the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger; a past Chair of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals; a former children’s editor of the Guardian, who is also Children’s Director of the Hay Festival; a Managing Director of the Hay Festival of twenty years; the founder of the Murder One bookshop, who has reviewed for the Guardian, The Times and the Daily Telegraph; and two UK School Librarians of the Year.
Each is named, with a photograph and full biography, on our editorial experts page.
Members of the panel include:
Liz RobinsonLoveReading reviewer since 2014 and former judge of the CWA Gold Dagger
Sarah BroadhurstVeteran book trade critic and former Hatchards paperback buyer
Joanne OwenAuthor, publishing expert, and LoveReading’s Literary Fiction Champion and YA Lead Reviewer
Lyndy CookeFormer Managing Director of Hay Festival, with more than 35 years in books and literature
Their judgements are informed by our Reader Review Panel — several hundred readers across our adult and children’s sites who read titles before publication and tell us plainly whether a book delivers.
LoveReading has been recommending books since 2004 and has reviewed more than 33,000 titles in that time. Every physical book bought through us donates 25% of the cover price to a school of your choice — more than £100,000 in books so far.
Where to start
For the same wild setting, start with The Great Alone. For the same book-club pull, Lessons in Chemistry; and for another loner learning to let people in, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.
Your questions answered
What kind of book is Where the Crawdads Sing?
A coming-of-age novel and courtroom mystery set in the marshes of North Carolina. It follows Kya, who grows up alone after her family leaves, and the murder investigation that puts her on trial.
Is Where the Crawdads Sing based on a true story?
No, it is a novel. Delia Owens drew on her own background as a wildlife scientist for its detail about the marsh and its creatures.
Are these recommendations generated by an algorithm?
No. They're curated by LoveReading's editors and informed by our 800-strong Reader Review Panel, who read widely across every genre. We've recommended on merit, not sales rank, since 2004.
Which should I read first?
For the same wild setting, The Great Alone; for the same book-club pull, Lessons in Chemistry; and for another heroine learning to trust, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.
More from the LoveReading blog
- What To Read After Where The Crawdads SingDecember 2021
- June 2024 Book Club Recommendation: The Women by Kristin HannahJune 2024
- How to Run a Successful Book Club or Reading GroupJuly 2020