This was such a fun reading experience. I do love the deeper commentary regarding the things that we are expected to do but also about the things that women (and specifically women of color) are expected to give up in order to do those things that are expected of us.

I know that this will be a hit. The prose was beautiful and the storyline was propulsive. I know so many people who I'm going to recommend it to because I know that they'll love it.

I feel like you can always tell when a poet writes a novel. The language is gorgeous, dense, and usually quite unique. I’ve read Yrsa Daley-Ward’s poetry collection “Bone” a few years ago and was drawn in by her use of descriptive language and beautiful visuals. Her novel writing is no different. This story centers on twin sisters living very different lives, when one of the sister’s sees a woman who looks exactly like their mother, who years ago seemingly drowned in the Thames, except this version of her has not aged and doesn’t have children. I think this is a good one to go into mostly blind. It’s a really beautiful character study, the dialogue is done in an interesting, propulsive way, and the world that the author creates is rooted in reality, but often feels mythical. The cover is also stunning, my god. I’ll be buying a hardcover of this for so many people in my life.

Here lies the ultimate display of the unreliable narrator(s).

The Catch is a surreal and poetic examination of the blessings and, at times, curses we receive from our parents. We begin the book with Clara, a writer experiencing success with her new novel. The book's attention gives her free reign to access her darker impulses, relatively unchecked. Clara's novel tells a story remarkably similar to her own life, two twins whose mother died when the girls were quite young. In real life, Clara has a sister who is three minutes younger but worlds different from herself named Dempsey. Their mother abandoned them as babies and presumably drowned in the river Thames. No one really knows, because only her clothes were found. 

Dempsey and Clara are separated when they go through the foster care system. As a result, they lead incredibly different lives — while Dempsey is obsessed with her own journey of self acceptance, seeking healers with varied levels of qualification. The two sisters' relationship is contentious at best. 

All of this changes when Clara is sure that she has seen her mother, somehow also 30 (the same age as Clara and Dempsey), pocket a watch in a department store. Faced with a psychedelic possibility that their mother is alive, their age, and also really cool, Clara starts to spiral. She and Dempsey have to grapple with their own reality, trying to parse out the fraud amongst the three of them. 

It's a circular, meta-narrative. We're reading from Clara and Dempsey's perspectives, with chapters of Clara's novel, Evidence, sparsed throughout. By the time I finished this one, I was reminded of David Lynch's Lost Highway, a film that ends just about where it began. The Catch will have you constantly wondering if you have finally figured it out, or if there's still some catch waiting on the next page.

I was immediately pulled into this book—eyes glued to the page! Daley-Ward is a phenomenal writer and gets at complex subjects in such a digestible way. This is one of those books I’m gonna be thinking about for years to come. As someone who has grown through unconventional family dynamics, this book just pulls at a certain heartstring. If you love literary fiction, books about sisters, mental-health, generational cycles, the complexities of motherhood, self-actualization, identity, and a little bit of mind-bending—THIS IS FOR YOU!

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

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.