9 Moving Books Like Where The Crawdads Sing

Where The Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward

If you enjoyed the gripping survival through life’s challenges in Where The Crawdads Sing, Where The Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Wardis the perfect book to follow up with. An immersive coming of age story following two fraternal twins named Joshua and Christophe just after graduating high school.

Now that the twins are in control of their own futures, the pressure to provide for their blind elderly grandma grows more and more every passing day. Although, In their small rural part of south Mississippi, job opportunities are slim to none.

As both brothers begin to choose their own paths after highschool, the two begin to take different routes and their decisions begin to contrast.

The once inseparable twins have now become slowly torn away due to the tension caused by their life choices in order to survive and provide.

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The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne

Did you enjoy the darker family dynamic in Where The Crawdads Sing? The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne is a suspense novel that hits the same note. The story is focused on our protagonist Helena Pelletier, who on the surface, has everything someone can ask for.

A great family, fulfilling career, and nothing but a bright future ahead. Then, suddenly, an emergency news broadcast shattered her perfect facade. All at once, Helena’s past came rushing through, a deep part of her former life that she kept hidden from everyone. Her children, her husband, even herself.

Now, 25 years later, Helena has received news of her father killing two guards, and escaping prison into the woods she grew up in. There has been a full fledged manhunt placed on her father, but she knows only one individual that has the ability to hunt him down.

Similar to Where The Crawdads Sing this novel is a deeper dive into the misfortune of toxic family dynamics, and feeds the readers suspenseful cravings.

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The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah

Kristen Hannah seems to never miss with her amazing story telling, and The Great Alone is no exception. If you enjoyed the gripping story telling in Where The Crawdads Sing, The Great Alone would be a perfect companion piece.

It is a coming of age story about the daughter, named Leni, of a Vietnam war vet. After the turmoil of the vietnam war stirs within Ernit Allbright, he eventually comes to term that he is no longer compatible with societies lifestyles due to his PTSD caused by the war.

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Beast of Extraordinary Circumstances by Ruth Emmie

If it’s the more whimsical realism side of Where The Crawdads Sing, that you were enthralled by, then the novel Beast of Extraordinary Circumstances, written by Ruth Emmie, would be a fantastic book to follow up with.

The narrative of this story is told through the different perspectives of peoples’ experiences with our protagonist Weylyn Grey, who seems to have had a significant role in the lives of everyone he meets.

Still, the stories told about Weylyn Grey were nowhere near normal. From being raised by wolves, to mysteriously making devastating storms disappear in an instant.

Weylyn was not only gifted in leaving some kind of print on another’s life, but he also has the gift of something much more ominous. A great story about adventure, love and curiosity.

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Educated by Tara Westover

Similar to Where The Crawdads Sing, Educated by Tara Westover is a more grounded novel, written as a retrospective semi-autobiography. The story is told through our author Tara Westover’s memories and experiences growing up in her unconventional family dynamic on a farm in rural Idaho.

Tara’s father Gene is a devoted Mormon, which has him lean on the belief of extreme self-sufficiency. Due to this, Gene makes a living off of recycling collected scrap metal, while her mother was an unlicensed midwife and herbal healer.

Along with this work comes a constant paranoia of federal government intervention, which prompts Gene’s solution to this is to keep himself, and all seven children completely off the books. No school, no birth certificates or any official medical attention, to stay as invisible as possible to the government.

This was possible to accomplish as long as everyone in the family lets it, but as time goes on, and Gene’s children grow older, they begin to crave more to life, including Tara. When these life choices do not coincide with Gene’s beliefs, he begins to present their sins to them and ensure them of their place after death, using that fear to keep them in line.

A motivational story that shows the persistent need in Tara to make more out of her life, even with the circumstances of her family, an extraordinary book to dig into.

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Let The Willows Weep by Sherry Parnell

Let The Willows Weep by Sherry Parnell is focused a bit more on emotional abandonment from a family. Birddog Harlin is a young girl from rural America in a struggling and unhappy family. She gets her unique name from one of her two brothers who describes her as small as a bird, but as strong as a loyal dog.

The only support she has in her family is her brother Denny, and her father who both hold her spirits in high regard. Though Birddog’s mother is an unhappy shrew that finds an issue with anything in life.

She is not satisfied with anyones choices and feels that Birddogs behavior is erratic, and misbehaving. After an accident in the mines, Birddog’s father was one of the unfortunate few on lost their lives during their work. As a result, Birddogs brother Denny took over his work in the mines to support the family.

As time goes on, Birddog begins to lose touch with her supportive brother, as he has a relationship with a woman who mirrors their mothers values.

With her father’s death and her brother no longer at arms reach, Birddog has to fend for herself and goes through devastating lows, and glimmers of hope in life on her own. A heartfelt and touching story that will keep you reading.

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The Windlands by Abby Geni

The Windlands by Abby Geni is a story surrounded by characters Darlene, Tucker, Jane, and Cora – small Oklahoma family that resided on a farm with their single father. With terrible misfortune, their small Oklahoma farm was swept up by a devastating tornado which took the life of the four children’s father.

Now parentless, the children become orphans, with their oldest sister Darlene taking over as guardian. Through the trials and tribulations, their brother Tucker abandons all three of his sisters to go off on his own. Years later, Tucker becomes infamous for his streak of wild terrorism in the name of animal activism and a bad accident.

He runs into his sister, Cora, and convinces her to tend to his wounds, and to take part in his acts of heroism against the abuse against animals. Cora, just a naive 9-year-old who misses her brother dearly, agrees to help him.

Now, on the run as a wanted fugitive with her older brother, it’s up to Darlene to find Cora and bring her home. This is an amazing book like Where The Crawdads Sing.

Beartown by Fedrick Backman

Fedrick Backman’s Bear Town is set in a dying city that has not been on the up and up in recent years, and has been failing in every way possible. The only slimmer of hope for this small town is their junior ice hockey team to win the national championship. Their abilities and spirits make it seem like a possible feat.

Although things begin to get a bit more complicated off the ice. This motivational story becomes an intense murder mystery that is set around a city that is doing anything possible to keep themselves out of these dark.

The characters in Fedrick Backmans novel are just as moving as Delia Owens in Where The Crawdads Sing and keeps you on the edge with the interesting and conflicting situations these teenagers are put in when the sake of their city is put on the line.

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A Girl Of The Limberlost by Gene Straton Porter

Published way back in 1909, the story of Elnora in A Girl of The Limber Lost is a story that is still prevalent today. Just like Where The Crawdads Sing, it’s a sentimental coming of age story about Elnora and her misfortunes growing up in Limberlost Swamp in North Indiana.

Growing up in poverty as a second generation and having her own mother blame her for the death of her father, Elnora overcomes these challenges in ways that are nothing less than extraordinary.

She finds solace in her small group of friends, the moths she collects, and the swamp itself. 

A beautiful story about a girl that not only achieved great feats under excruciating circumstances, but also sheds light on the beauty of nature, and the autrousadies brought upon it through companies that want to extract their resources. An amazing and classic read that sound get the credit it deserves.