WSJ: A Debut Novel Goes Big
“In its first eight weeks, its sales exceeded those of several of Putnam’s other best-selling debuts, its editor Tara Singh Carlson said. The book has spent nine weeks both on the New York Times best-seller list and Amazon’s most-sold fiction chart. It is also one of seven fiction nominees for the 2019 Southern Book Award….
“Where the Crawdads Sing” gained a high-profile fan in Reese Witherspoon, who named it a September pick for her Hello Sunshine book club….
When Ms. Carlson read the manuscript, she made an offer to Ms. Owens’s agent within a week, which successfully pre-empted an auction.
‘Part of what made me move so quickly had to do with Delia’s specific life experience that gives this book some of its special magic,’ Ms. Carlson says. ‘It’s a story that speaks to where people have come from evolutionarily and about what motivates us and what causes us to do what we do.’”
I'm excited to share this article from the Wall Street Journal, which ran in Monday's print edition! It's online and if you have a Wall Street Journal subscription, you can read it at the link below.
Tobias Grey, "With ‘Where the Crawdads Sing," a Debut Novel Goes Big," Wall Street Journal, November 12, 2018.