Delia Owens’s Where the Crawdads Sing is one of the best books of all time. It has been adapted into a film of the same name, released in Canada in July 2022. It has been named on many book club lists, including Reese Witherspoon’s. For listeners who can’t get enough of this gripping coming-of-age story set in the marshlands of North Carolina - and all its dark twists and turns - we’ve compiled a list of audiobooks like Where the Crawdads Sing that you won't want to miss on Audible.
With an isolated and misunderstood protagonist, like Kya Clark in Where the Crawdads Sing, Tell the Wolves I’m Home is a beautiful tale of love, loss, and grief written by Carol Rifka Brunt. When 14-year-old June Elbus loses her uncle Finn to AIDs, she is heartbroken about losing the only person who truly understood her.
However, it soon becomes clear that not only June misses Finn when a mysterious stranger, Toby, asks to meet her. With everyone else in her life hesitant to talk about Finn and the illness that took his life, Toby becomes the kindred spirit June so desperately needs, who helps her heal from the loss of her first true love.
Bonnie Jo Campbell’s Once Upon a River is a thrilling story about a young woman hiding a dark secret. After being complicit in the death of her father, 16-year-old Margo Crane sets sail on the Stark River to search for her long-lost mother. However, despite being the idyllic home of her childhood, the grueling and unforgiving river proves hard for a young girl traveling alone.
With Margo using her knowledge of the natural world to survive, listeners will see similarities to the naturalistic themes of Where the Crawdads Sing, immersing them in a fascinating yet chaotic world as Margo battles through on her journey.
Another title by American author Kristin Hannah features on our list of the best audiobooks for listeners that loved Where the Crawdads Sing. The Great Alone follows a former Vietnam prisoner of war, Ernt Allbright, as he moves his family to the harsh, unforgiving landscape of Alaska to live off the land after losing yet another job. Reminiscent of the isolated setting of Where the Crawdads Sing, the family initially enjoys the beauty of Alaska and the hospitality of its people.
However, as the nights grow darker and colder, the cracks suddenly begin to appear, with Ernt’s mental state declining. With the chilling realization that they are alone in this desolate landscape, daughter Leni and her mother Cora fight for survival.
Educated is a memoir so fascinating and vivid that you will easily forget that it’s a true story. Much like Kya in Where the Crawdads Sing, author Tara Westover grew up estranged from society. Raised by survivalist parents, Tara never so much as saw a doctor or attended a single day of school. Despite this, Tara took her life into her own hands and began to educate herself.
From her admission to Brigham Young University to completing her Ph.D. from the prestigious Cambridge University, this inspirational account of hardship and determination is a testament to the strength of Westover and her courage to break free from her past.
From the New York Times best seller Barbara Kingsolver, Unsheltered is a mesmerizing tale of two families in two centuries, told in alternating chapters. Wife and mother Willa Knox is disheartened when she realizes she has reached her middle age with nothing to show for all the hard work she has done for her family. Desperately seeking repairs for their dilapidated house, she begins investigating her home’s fascinating history - only to instead discover a kindred spirit in Thatcher Greenwood - a science teacher from the 1880s. With the two families both experiencing significant hardships due to cultural shifts, it soon proves how we have, and can always, find shelter in the kindred spirits around us.
Based on a real-life scandal, Before We Were Yours is a story that takes the listener on a journey through time, unweaving the dark secrets of a corrupt adoption agency. This heartbreaking title by Lisa Wingate was a New York Times best seller.
This book tells the story of the Foss children, who were taken from their shantyboat home to a Tennessee orphanage under the false promise that they would soon return to their family. However, under the iron fist of the orphanage director, the children are forced to fight to stay together.
Fast-forward to the present day, and federal prosecutor Avery Stafford decides to look into her family history after a chance encounter leaves her with questions. What she finds reveals some horrifying secrets from the past which link her family to one of the worst scandals in American history.
Eleanor Oliphant is a socially-awkward young woman with no friends and a problematic weekend alcohol habit. With the highlight of her week being her phone calls with her mother and doing the Daily Telegraph crossword, she seems much older and more boring than her 29 years.
However, when Eleanor and Raymond, the IT guy from her office, unexpectedly help save the elderly Sammy, it becomes the start of a friendship which puts an end to her social isolation and helps her deal with the demons of her past. With a strong theme of isolation, Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine will appeal strongly to fans of Where the Crawdads Sing.
Those who enjoyed the references to nature in Where the Crawdads Sing will thoroughly enjoy this story about one boy and his supernatural ability to manipulate nature. Weylyn Grey’s powers bring chaos to each and every place he goes to, from huge storms to trees that mysteriously grow overnight. Despite never staying in one place for long, Weylyn has a profound effect on everyone he meets.
Told from the perspective of the people who knew and loved him, with a fantastic cast of narrators, Ruth Emmie Lang’s Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance is a thrilling collection of stories about the wondrous and tumultuous Weylyn and the impact he had on everyone around him.
Set in the isolated wilderness of Florida, the harsh setting of A Land Remembered bears likeness to the desolate setting of Where the Crawdads Sing. The storyline begins in 1858 when Tobias MacIvey arrives to start a new life. It follows the MacIvey family as they struggle to survive and make a living in this harsh environment. With dreams of rising from dirt-poor to filthy-rich, we follow the family’s money-making pursuits from agriculture and raising livestock to becoming real estate tycoons. A rags-to-riches story paying homage to the pioneer ‘cracker’ settlers of Florida, A Land Remembered is a fascinating story that examines an important part of American history.
Having sold over two million copies, this fantastic novel written by New York Times bestselling author Amor Towles will have listeners captivated from beginning to end. Beginning in Russia in 1922, aristocrat Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in a grand hotel opposite the Kremlin complex. Stuck inside, as some of the most significant events in Russian history are happening right on his doorstep, Rostov is forced to contemplate his own emotions and existence. With a diverse and colourful cast of characters and brimming with witty humour, A Gentleman in Moscow is a thrilling story about human purpose.
Set during World War II, Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See is a beautiful story about how worlds can collide in the most unexpected ways. In Paris, Marie-Laure, a blind girl whose father works at the Museum of Natural History, learns to navigate the streets of Paris using a miniature model of their neighbourhood made by her beloved father. In contrast, orphan Werner in a German mining town becomes fascinated with fixing radios–a hobby that eventually gets him enlisted in the Hitler Youth and later into the war itself.
After Marie-Laure and her father are forced to take refuge in the coastal town of Saint-Malo, her father, Daniel, is entrusted with a valuable artifact from the museum. It is in Saint-Malo that the worlds of Marie-Laure and Werner converge in the most unexpected way.
The follow-up to the New York Times bestselling novel, The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller’s Circe is a story that will have listeners hooked from the very beginning. Starting from Circe’s birth in the House of Helios, it is immediately apparent that Circe is different and possesses the power of witchcraft. Banished by Zeus, Circe spends her days outcasted on a desert island, developing her witchcraft skills, and encountering many mythological legends along the way.
However, danger is just around the corner, and Circe is soon forced to face the most feared of the Olympians and ultimately choose if she belongs with the gods she was born with or the mortal beings she has grown to love during her isolation. A thrilling tale with an outcast protagonist, Circe will appeal well to fans of Where the Crawdads Sing.
Set during World War II, The Nightingale is a brilliant tale that tells the story of the war from the female perspective, written by Kristin Hannah. Starting in France in 1939, the story follows sisters Vianne and Isabelle as they battle the devastating and challenging impacts of war. Wife and mother Vianne is forced to make one difficult choice after the other to protect her family after her husband goes to war, whereas 18-year-old Isabelle joins the French Resistance, risking her life to save others. A novel full of strong and powerful female characters, just like Where the Crawdads Sing, The Nightingale is a celebration of the sacrifices women made during World War II - a perspective that is all too often lost.
Containing a similar theme of vengeance, The Marsh King’s Daughter will be thoroughly enjoyed by fans of Where the Crawdads Sing. A bone-chilling psychological suspense novel, this story introduces us to Helena, who is the product of an abduction, where her mother gave birth to her after being kidnapped by the man who became her father. Having put her past behind her, Helena is now living a normal life, but things change dramatically when she hears that her father has escaped from prison.
Returning to the marshland where she was born and raised, Helena joins the manhunt, knowing full well that the survivalist skills taught to her by her father may be their only chance of catching him. A harrowing story with strong nature themes, Karen Dionne’s The Marsh King’s Daughter will be thoroughly enjoyed by fans of Where the Crawdads Sing.
From the author of the New York Times best seller A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Bachman, Beartown is the tale of a small town and the true cost of its biggest dreams. Similar to Where the Crawdads Sing, this audiobook examines what brings a community together and what tears it apart.
A town that’s long past its prime, Beartown is a small community slowly being swallowed by the forest that surrounds it. When Beartown’s junior ice hockey team has a shot at winning the national semi-finals, the community is understandably delighted, but when the match leads to an unexpected and violent incident, accusations are made, and the cracks in the community begin to show.
Written and narrated by Donna VanLiere, The Good Dream is a powerful, heart-wrenching, yet hopeful tale about one woman’s unexpected path to motherhood. Ivorie Walker has lived a life of loneliness since her parents passed away. Masking her true feelings with her fierce independence, she worries that she will be alone forever. However, when a disheveled young boy appears and starts stealing vegetables from her garden, she becomes intrigued about where the boy comes from, oblivious to the hardships he faces at his filthy and dilapidated home in the hills. Soon enough, it becomes clear that the community is adamant about keeping its secrets, even if the results are horrifying.
