We had yet another interesting bookish discussion at our monthly N.A.R.A. (Nobel Anonymous Readers Association) book club meeting.

This time around, we read and chatted about “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens. This highly acclaimed bestseller didn’t disappoint and was unanimously appreciated by our book club members.  

We were transported to the beautiful marsh lands of North Carolina in the 1950s and 1960s as we read about this coming of age story of the main character Kya, a wild girl who was abandoned by her family and learned to survive on her own in close communion with the surrounding nature.

Part murder mystery, part love story, this book had us hooked with lavish nature descriptions, interesting characters and a well written plot. Although it’s a lesson of survival, resilience and self-reliance, the book also discusses how we ultimately cannot escape our human nature and our need for connection and belonging.          

We had great fun debating about Kya’s adventures, her relationships with the other characters and with the wilderness itself. After a lovely read and an even lovelier chat, we can’t wait to also check out the movie adaptation of this debut novel.

Our monthly book club meetings are part of Nobel Fun at Work activities, which give us the opportunity to know better our colleagues from all over the world and share our interests and hobbies with them.

For our next meeting, we chose a book with another powerful female protagonist – “The Queen’s Gambit” by Walter Tevis.