An intriguing tale about Clara and Dempsey, twins who were separated into the foster system as infants after their mother drowned herself in the Thames. It's been thirty years and suddenly Serene has appeared. Clara believes she's their mother but how, given that Serene herself is only thirty, can that be? And that's what Dempsey thinks. This moves between them and has flashes of a novel written by Clara as well. It's a multiverse, I suppose, but I also found it a bit confusing, Daley-Ward has a lovely writing style which kept me reading for the pleasure of her language. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to fans of literary fiction.

This was such a great novel about creativity. It brought up large topics but also excelled in the small details. Really loved how this was done.

This book was richly written, complex and deep. It focuses on two adult twin sisters and the reappearance of their mother, including a meta-fiction aspect where events in the story mirror events in a book written by one of the main characters. I loved the complex portrayal of the twins, including their different upbringings after they were separated, and the threads of magical realism and fantasy. I’m not sure the story fully landed for me, but ultimately I think definitely worth reading for a unique and thought provoking threads that make an interesting reading experience.

As a longtime Yrsa Daley-Ward fan since reading "bone" years ago, I loved reading this book. It has such an interesting storyline, and it kept me engaged throughout the whole book. The only negative I have about this book is that because of the narration, I found myself getting confused at parts. Overall though, this was a really good read and will take readers on a journey for sure.

This was a confusing book for me! Interesting story and plot but I was confused most of it. Serene was infuriating and Clara and Dempsey I just was confused by.

I adored the way the themes were dealt with in this book - particularly motherhood, daughter(hood?) and the innate feelings we have as women. This is a little gem of a book, and deserves all of the hype! It's certainly dark at times but tinged with just enough that silver lining of hope.

Really weird and just unrelatable to me. Not a big fan of any of the characters or how this book was written.

I read this in 7 hours and it felt like it. I was going through so many emotions that I had to put the book down multiple times. Taking small breaks while staring out in the distance. I will not go into the characters or the plot. What I need to talk about is the unreliability of everything. Had me going a bit crazy. Half the time I didn’t have a clue what was going on. I was feeling every other emotion other than happiness. The anger to the character, plot and even author. I’m not mad about the book is not bad. I had such a hard time going through it. Feeling like a damned fever dream, you think it’s over and done but no you’re still dreaming. I need people to pick the book up, tell me what they think and have a discussion on my ideas lol. I would love to read more by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company I received a ARC for an honest review !

I’ve tried writing this review a few times and I’ve struggled every time to find the right words to encapsulate how I truly felt about this novel. What I know for sure is that it’s beautifully written and I could not put it down. On the flip side of that, I could never quite orient myself in the story. By the time I finished it, I realized that I had not been asking the right questions or focusing on the right things. However, as confused and disoriented I often found myself, this is one I’ll think of fondly for a long time. Do with that what you will.

What just happened here? "The Catch" is a readable, maze-like story, which Yrsa Daley-Ward's writing makes understandable but not comprehensible. Does that make sense? Let me try to explain the story.

Clara and Dempsey are unalike twins. Clara is glamorous and famous for writing a smash novel that might have been written by their dead mother. She's also an addict about to be flung off her carnival-ride life. Dempsey hides in her apartment, eating a sparse vegan diet but feasting on her contempt for her sister. When Clara meets a woman while shopping who has the same name, same face, and same address as their mother, who drowned herself at age thirty, which seems to be the age of the woman Clara has just met. Dempsey thinks her sister has lost lost her mind, but when she meets Serene, who has the same name as their mother, I was all in to find out what the heck was going on.

There's already a lot of buzz about "The Catch," and I look forward to reading what others think. I can see a lot of sprightly discussion coming out of this book, and I recommend it to readers who enjoy wondering. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Whan an abstract novel that made me chuckle a few times. The female main character was engaging yet unnerving and although I never truly knew where the plot was going, I was still intrigued. Great writing.

A darkly human tale full of unreliable narrators, with shades of Toni Morrison and Daphne du Maurier.

I fell in love with the way this story is written and found myself mesmerized by Daley-Ward’s words. Her prose is poetic and unforgiving, both beautiful and repugnant. The way the author fully allows the reader to inhabit Dempsey and Clara’s world makes for very compelling reading. How the sisters relate to one another on the page felt very real, the tension, anger, and sadness radiating off the page was irresistible. As I read The Catch I kept on finding myself asking, which sister do I trust? Which characters do I believe? It wouldn’t take long for me to realize that I had entered the story with the wrong mindset.

The Catch is puzzling and disorienting with no stability in sight. Just as I thought I had a grasp on what was happening, I had the rug yanked from beneath my feet and had to crawl my way toward the end where I discovered that I knew nothing at all. As confusing, and at times difficult, as this book can be to read, I found it well worth it in the end. Clara, Dempsey, and Serene are willing to hurt themselves, hurt each other, and hurt you, but through all the murk what shines through is the depth of humanity invested in these characters and their stories.

What if your birth mother who gave you up for adoption as a child randomly appears one day except she is your same age? Gorgeously written (love a poet turned novelist) while still being terrifically engaging (and funny!). Gets lost in itself and doesn't quite stick the landing, but I was thrilled and delighted the whole way through.

The beautiful cover caught my eyes on this one but it's what's inside that's the real treat. Told with tender, cutting prose, Daley-Ward explores family ties, motherhood, and identity. A fascinating character study that was challenging to put down. Thank you W. W. Norton & Co for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Available Jun. 03 2025

So I struggled through it. Didn’t like the writing style , frequently confused as to the plot and having finished it, could not give you a definite conclusion. Sorry-just not my style of read.

The story was interesting and the writing was good but I struggled to keep reading to the end, just not a book for me sadly. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read it.

Yrsa Daley-Wards inaugural fiction has taken me on a wild ride! This text is lyrical, poetic, emotional and confusing- in the best ways. Part literary fiction, magical realism, fantasy, sci-fi and in some ways a horror novel. How a horror? It’s scary to consider that women (Black women in particular) are failed by almost everyone (including ourselves) and most systems. The decisions that have to be made to secure what Clifton calls “a kind of life” come at her own expense.

Serene and the twins story reminds me of Beloved (Morrison) in that the decisions of a mother end up haunting her and her children who are the only ones who can ultimately decide if the actions were justified or not. 

I enjoyed this journey —even the moments where I was confused or angry because Serene, Clara and, Dempsey are so beautifully human and reminded me of my own fragile humanity. 

 Thanks @netgalley for this e-arc. Pub date 06/25.

Reading The Catch felt like waking up from a dream—beautiful, confusing, and emotional all at once. This story follows twin sisters, Clara and Dempsey, who have lived very different lives. When Clara says she found their birth mother—who they believed was dead—Dempsey doesn’t believe her. But the woman, Serene, looks and acts just like their mom.

The book is told from many points of view, which makes you question what’s real and who you can trust. The writing is poetic and powerful, like Yrsa’s past work. Some parts may feel confusing to readers who struggle with abstractions, but at its core, this is a story about two sisters trying to understand their past and grow into who they are - despite their mother wound getting in the way.

If you like dreamy, emotional stories about family, identity, and searching for love, The Catch is worth the read.

very psychedelic and incredibly confusing (even more than most other novels like this, because there's no sense of stability anywhere). but really poetically writen, awesome chars, and great story. 4 stars. tysm for thea rc.

It’s always risky picking up such an esoteric book – I am 100% certain that some people will have this on their “best of the year” lists, but for me personally it didn’t quite connect.

This is an autofiction book about estranged twin sisters, Dempsey and Clara, one of whom believes she has seen her mother (who was presumed dead) in some sort of time warp where she is still young (or, in Depmsey’s opinion, a con woman). Clara also happens to be a celebrity author who writes an autofiction book about twin sisters, one of whom meets her mother in some sort of time warp where she is still young.

What this book has that worked well for me: Weird! I love books with a weird, dreamlike quality, where you aren’t quite sure what’s going on but trust the author to take you on a journey. I also am a fan of an unreliable narrator, and that was definitely well done here.

Things that aren’t my jam, but would appeal to the right readers: Unhinged women. I know this has become more and more popular in recent years, but books about sad and/or unhinged women just don’t really appeal to me. From there, the writing also didn’t quite pull me in; I’m not 100% sure how to articulate why, but I think it had to do with the way I struggled to connect with the characters. It was very high-concept, which can sometimes work for me but I think kept me at an arm’s length in this case.