This book has been on the best seller list for over 123 weeks (at last check)! And it is also a favorite with book clubs.  The story focuses on the life of a young woman named Kya growing up in the marshes of North Carolina.  She is abandoned over a period of time by her siblings, her mother, and finally her father.  She is quite young when she is left on her own but this story is set in the 1960s when children were not so coddled and became independent at an early age.  She does have some support from a gentleman named Jumpin Jack and later a young man named Tate.  Tate teaches her to read and write and eventually they fall in love.  There are many other characters introduced (some good, some bad) and the book goes back and forth from a coming of age to a murder mystery.  Overall, I liked this book.  The characters were well developed, the descriptions of the natural environment were wonderful, and I’m a big fan of mysteries.  The author leaves no unanswered questions at the end leaving you satisfied with the outcome of the story.