A retired wildlife biologist who spent much of her career studying hyenas, lions and elephants in southern Africa has emerged – at the age of 70 – as one of the most successful authors of the year or any year, with her debut novel one of the sleeper hits of 2019.
Delia Owens has now sold more than 4.5 million copies of her novel Where The Crawdads Sing, since it was published in August, 2018.
In addition to several accolades, a book club endorsement from Reese Witherspoonhelped it blow away the competition, exceeding the combined sales of grandees Margaret Atwood, John Grisham and Stephen King this year. It has sold more print copies than any other adult title – fiction or non-fiction – in 2019, according to NPD BookScan, the New York Times reported.
Owens, 70, the co-author of three non-fiction books about her life as a scientist, received glowing reviews upon the novel’s launch in 2018. The New York Times Book Review called it “painfully beautiful”.
But Crawdads, a coming-of-age story of a young woman living in the marshes of North Carolin, which involves an unexplained murder, took months to catch on. By December last year, according to Publisher’s Weekly, sales crossed just 186,000, with 39% of print sales coming from southern states.
Publishers credit the endorsement of Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine book club for the delayed surge. Sales peaked in March at 75,000 copies in one week.
Last week, the book landed back at No 1 on the New York Times’ fiction bestseller list, a return to the top spot it previously held for 30 weeks. And now Witherspoon plans to produce and star in a feature film based on the story.
Publishing experts are baffled by the scale of the book’s success. A survey by the analysts Codex Group found that 55% of Crawdads readership identified as progressive; 30% as conservative; and 15% as centrists, suggesting that the story of a young woman wrestling with isolation and loneliness in lushly descriptive settings resonate beyond political boundaries and in defiance of falling sales of adult fiction.
“This book has defied the new laws of gravity,” Codex Group president Peter Hildick-Smith told the New York Times. “It’s managed to hold its position in a much more consistent way than just about anything.”
Owens, who was born in Georgia but lives in Idaho, said her mother encouraged her to venture far into the oak forests, saying: “Go way out yonder where the crawdads sing.”
But according to some, Crawdads has a clouded genesis.
According to Slate, after spending 22 years in Africa with her husband, Mark, they were advised never to return to Zambia after they were wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of a poacher. The murder, which took place in 1995, was filmed by an ABC camera crew.
Owens is not implicated, but her stepson and her husband were identified by some witnesses. The crime later became the subject of an 18,000-word story written by Jeffrey Goldberg and published in the New Yorker.
Goldberg told Slate’s Laura Miller he was surprised how Owens and her publishers have brushed over the episode.
“I got a copy of Crawdads and I have to say I found it strange and uncomfortable to be reading the story of a southern loner, a noble naturalist, who gets away with what is described as a righteously motivated murder in the remote wild,” Goldberg noted.
In an interview last year, Owens said she reads more non-fiction – biology and physics – than fiction.
She said: “There is too much great, real science to be had. So when I read novels – to break away from the precision of science writing – I choose those with compelling story lines written descriptively.”
When sales surpassed a million this summer, Owens posted on her website that her connection with readers “has filled my life”.
She said: “Booksellers, giant ones and tiny ones, recommended Crawdads. And then came my readers. I treasure the connection I feel with you all. I cannot even express my gratitude, but I’ll try with a simple thank you!”
