The story covers the life of a girl, nicknamed Kya. The girl lives alone and is intensely lonely. She's been abandoned by everyone: her parents, her siblings. She is all alone. A few times people try to capture her as a child in order to take better care of her, but she manages to evade them all. She meets a few men, falls in love with one who leaves her, and falls in love with the idea of life with another before he chooses another woman for his wife.
Owens' timeline shifts back and forth between Kya's life growing up, and the mystery surrounding a young man's death. The mystery is not entirely resolved until the very end when it is shown that Kya was in fact the person responsible for the death of the young man. The motive is established: he attempts to rape her and beats her badly enough that it takes her more than a month before she is fully physically recovered. But she constantly lives with the fear of him coming upon her and further visiting violence on her.
During the trial, it seems quite absurd that she is suspected at all for the murder of the young man. This was no accidental murder: it was coldly calculated. She had an established alibi and witnesses. Timing was a major issue. It would seem nearly impossible for her to have done it at all. But it is not until the last chapter, when she has died and her partner has discovered a hidden trap door with her secrets hiding underneath, that it is revealed that she indeed was the author of the murder.
I cannot imagine a sheriff or any decent investigator taking the whole affair to a court. Considering the witnesses and the alibi in favor of her not having done it vs. the witnesses of her having been in the area at the time would have made it difficult for a reasonable prosecutor to make the decision of taking on such a case.
Color: for almost the entire book, I thought Kya was black. That is, until Owens described her as a white girl. I guess I don't know southern accents very well, so maybe that had something to do with me seeing her as black when she wasn't. I thought she came from a poor black family. Also, she associated with a black family better than any of the white families. But then, suddenly, she's white. I wonder if Owens did all of this intentionally: did she try to make me think that she was black and then suddenly, near to the end, revealed that she was white? If so, why? What's the point? If she hadn't meant to deceive me, why mention the color of the girl so suddenly and concretely?
Another thing that jumped out at me was the character of Kya. She's been alone for so long, yet seems to have a better comprehension of human behavior than someone having lived in isolation ought to have had. Further, she goes from being barely literate to an academic superstar. She has been gifted with paints and canvas and becomes an expert in them, all by herself. Becoming an expert in anything in such isolation seems almost an absurd proposition.
I guess, in a book which does not really exist within the framework of science fiction, or horror, and attempts a semblance of realism, ends up being scrutinized for realism in a way that I don't apply to works of the other genres.
All of that said, I think that this novel is quite a remarkable achievement for a debut novel. It was very easy to read and enjoyable.
