How long does it take to read Where the Crawdads Sing?
Delia Owens
At an average reading speed of 250 words a minute, Where the Crawdads Sing takes 7 hours 34 minutes to read. The unabridged audiobook runs 12 hours at 1x, or 8h 8m at 1.5x.
Where the Crawdads Sing was Delia Owens's first novel. It's a standard-length novel: about seven and a half hours at an average pace, close to To Kill a Mockingbird.
Average is about 250 WPM. Measure yours in two minutes and every time on this page recalculates.
How much to read a day
At 250 words a minute, to finish the book:
Have a deadline in mind? The pages-per-day calculator works it out for any date.
How we measured it
Method: audiobook estimate. Estimated from the unabridged audiobook narrated by Cassandra Campbell (12:12; Libro.fm lists 12:11) at 155 words a minute.
Part of our study of the 100 most popular books, last checked November 2026. Reading times assume steady reading; editions, translations and your own pace all move them.
See how long it really takes you
Log it in Parch as you read. It tracks your pages, sessions and streak, so you'll know your real pace, and how long the next one will take.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read Where the Crawdads Sing?
About 7h 34m at an average reading speed of 250 words a minute: 9h 27m at 200 and 6h 18m at 300.
How many words are in Where the Crawdads Sing?
About 113,460 words. That's estimated from the unabridged audiobook at a narration pace of 155 words a minute, so treat it as close, not exact.
How many pages a day to finish Where the Crawdads Sing in a month?
About 14 pages a day, or 16m of reading a day at an average pace. That assumes about 413 pages at 275 words a page; real page counts vary by edition.
How long is the Where the Crawdads Sing audiobook?
12 hours 12 minutes unabridged, narrated by Cassandra Campbell. At 1.5x, about 8 hours.
Can you read Where the Crawdads Sing in a week?
Yes: a little over an hour a day at an average pace finishes it in seven days.