Where the Crawdads Sing

Kya departs for her trip to Greenville on October 28 after stopping by Jumpin’s. The townspeople are astonished by how tidily she is dressed and the very idea of the Marsh Girl taking a trip out of town. They are just as astonished when she returns two days later.

After she returns, Jumpin’ tells her about Chase’s death, including details like the missing shell necklace. Kya has no intention of attending the funeral because of the gossip it would cause. Jumpin’ is grateful that she was out of town because it gives her an alibi. As Kya walks away, she recalls an Amanda Hamilton poem about what terrible actions the heart can inspire.

As testimony continues in court, the prosecution calls the driver of the bus Kya took to Greenville. They want to prove that a man similar in build to Kya took the bus from Greenville to Barkley Cove and then back on the night Chase was murdered. However, the bus driver can’t be completely sure about what passengers he saw.

Patti Love Andrews testifies the next day about the relationship between Chase and Kya. She tells the court about a journal found among his things, a gift from Kya to Chase that contains a picture of Kya handing a shell necklace to Chase in the fire tower. The prosecutor uses this testimony connect the necklace to Chase, Kya, and the fire tower. Since the necklace meant a great deal to Kya, the fact that it’s missing also connects her to the murder.

Kya mentally checks out during much of the trial, instead comparing the hierarchies in the court to those she sees when she observes male animals in the marsh. Two fishermen saw Kya near the fire tower and in her boat at about the time Chase died. Milton undercuts their testimony by pointing out that the waning moon that night would have made it easy to mistakenly identify someone else as Kya. 

The prosecution accepts that Kya was on the bus back and forth from Barkley Cove to Greenville at the times she claims. The owner of the motel where Kya stayed testifies that she entered her room and stayed in all night on both nights in question during her trip. He also admits that she could have left without him knowing.

There is a stir in the courtroom when Scupper shows up to support his son; Scupper realizes that he is guilty of prejudice against Kya. He now sees that Kya’s success and survival are worthy of pride.

The defense then calls Kya’s editor, Robert Foster. He tells the court that he delivered Kya to her room both nights before nine at night and picked her up for breakfast just before eight in the morning. The prosecutor makes much of the fact that Kya stayed at a dumpy motel. Kya, he says, picked the hotel to make it easier to get back and forth to the bus station quickly. Milton establishes an alternative explanation: Kya is so shy that a small motel was less stressful than a bigger, fancier one.

The sheriff testifies that although the timing would have been extremely tight, it would have been possible for Kya to sneak back into town on the night Chase died. A riptide or a strong current would have made the round trip between the fire tower and the bus station faster. Milton forces the sheriff to admit that there is no evidence that any such current or riptide ever happened.

Tom Milton closes his defense by calling Tim O’Neal, who was also there when the two fishermen claim to have seen Kya coming out of the cove on the night Chase died. Tim tells the court that it was too dark to see who was in the boat. He is familiar with Kya and her boat, so this is powerful testimony.

The prosecutor closes by arguing that Chase was the pride of the town and that a person with Kya’s “lifestyle” (339) would certainly have been able to carry out the actions leading to Chase’s death. Tom Milton closes by saying explicitly what the prosecutor only insinuates—people call Kya the “Marsh Girl” to reject her because she is different; the murder accusation is just one more instance of the town’s prejudice. He reminds the jury that she is actually an abandoned child left on her own because her family and the town failed in their duty to her. The facts of the case are so weak that they must overcome their bigotry and acquit her.

Kya feels like the loneliest person in the world as she waits for the verdict. All the people who support her—Scupper, Mabel, Jumpin’, Tate, and Robert Foster—are waiting as well. The jury keeps asking to see transcripts of parts of the testimony, so their deliberations drag on. In the end, they acquit Kya, and all the people who love her are there to greet her.

After her release, Kya returns home. Jodie is there and asks to stay, but she blows up at him and walks out to the woods to get away. He leaves rather than have her avoid her shack. In the morning, she wakes up and gets back to work collecting and drawing, hoping that perhaps she will see Tate. She does see him briefly, but the sheriff shows up in his boat to take Tate away. Kya fears they have arrested him for the murder of Chase and goes to see Jumpin’ to find out what is happening.

This final chapter covers the remainder of Kya’s life. Rumors about what happened to Chase continue over the years, but the townspeople conclude that the sheriff’s arrest of Kya was cruel and unmerited and he loses his re-election. Jumpin’ eventually dies. America changes as well: Women gain more rights and so do African Americans. Rich people with yachts vacation in Barkley Cove after it becomes a tourist destination.

Kya and Tate marry, and expand the shack until it is a real home with enough space for each of them to do their work. Kya and Tate are never able to have children, but sometimes Jodie’s children visit them. Kya’s connection with nature, which “had nurtured, tutored, and protected her” (363) instead of people, stays strong. Kya knows that this changed her and made her different. Tate’s love is enough for her, however.

Kya dies in 2009 when she is sixty-four while birding out in the marsh. In her will, she leaves her land in a conservation easement to protect it from developers. As Tate goes through her things, he discovers a cache of Amanda Hamilton poems and realizes that Kya all along was Amanda Hamilton, whose poetry he never much liked. He is horrified to find a poem called “The Firefly,” which describes luring a lover to his death and watching him die after he falls. The poem is in a box with Chase’s missing shell necklace. Tate burns all the poems and the necklace to prevent the truth about Kya murdering Chase from getting out.