
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


In this month’s installment of the Book Review Book Club, we’re discussing “The Catch,” the debut novel by the poet and memoirist Yrsa Daley-Ward. The book is a psychological thriller that follows semi-estranged twin sisters, Clara and Dempsey, who were babies when their mother was presumed to have drowned in the Thames.
The novel begins decades later, when Clara sees something strange: A woman who looks just like their mother is stealing a watch. Clara believes this is her mother, and wants to welcome her back into her life. Dempsey is less certain, in part because the woman doesn’t seem to have aged a day. She believes the woman is a con artist because it’s simply not possible for her to be their mother … right?
What’s real? What’s not? And what does that mean for the lives of these struggling sisters? Daley-Ward unpacks it all in her deliciously slippery novel. On this episode, the Book Club host MJ Franklin talks about “The Catch” with fellow Book Review editors Jennifer Harlan and Sadie Stein.
Other books mentioned in this week’s episode:
“The Other Black Girl,” by Zakiya Dalila Harris
“The Haunting of Hill House,” by Shirley Jackson
“Wish Her Safe at Home,” by Stephen Benatar
“Erasure,” by Percival Everett
“Playworld,” by Adam Ross
“The House on the Strand,” by Daphne du Maurier
“Grief Is the Thing With Feathers,” by Max Porter
“The Furrows,” by Namwali Serpell
“Dead in Long Beach, California,” by Venita Blackburn
“The Vanishing Half,” by Brit Bennett
“Death Takes Me,” by Cristina Rivera Garza
“Audition,” by Katie Kitamura
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
By The New York Times4.1
36843,684 ratings
In this month’s installment of the Book Review Book Club, we’re discussing “The Catch,” the debut novel by the poet and memoirist Yrsa Daley-Ward. The book is a psychological thriller that follows semi-estranged twin sisters, Clara and Dempsey, who were babies when their mother was presumed to have drowned in the Thames.
The novel begins decades later, when Clara sees something strange: A woman who looks just like their mother is stealing a watch. Clara believes this is her mother, and wants to welcome her back into her life. Dempsey is less certain, in part because the woman doesn’t seem to have aged a day. She believes the woman is a con artist because it’s simply not possible for her to be their mother … right?
What’s real? What’s not? And what does that mean for the lives of these struggling sisters? Daley-Ward unpacks it all in her deliciously slippery novel. On this episode, the Book Club host MJ Franklin talks about “The Catch” with fellow Book Review editors Jennifer Harlan and Sadie Stein.
Other books mentioned in this week’s episode:
“The Other Black Girl,” by Zakiya Dalila Harris
“The Haunting of Hill House,” by Shirley Jackson
“Wish Her Safe at Home,” by Stephen Benatar
“Erasure,” by Percival Everett
“Playworld,” by Adam Ross
“The House on the Strand,” by Daphne du Maurier
“Grief Is the Thing With Feathers,” by Max Porter
“The Furrows,” by Namwali Serpell
“Dead in Long Beach, California,” by Venita Blackburn
“The Vanishing Half,” by Brit Bennett
“Death Takes Me,” by Cristina Rivera Garza
“Audition,” by Katie Kitamura
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

8,889 Listeners

38,492 Listeners

7,015 Listeners

3,353 Listeners

243 Listeners

4,128 Listeners

1,498 Listeners

2,127 Listeners

2,065 Listeners

144 Listeners

113,458 Listeners

1,520 Listeners

12,633 Listeners

310 Listeners

7,248 Listeners

466 Listeners

51 Listeners

2,348 Listeners

380 Listeners

6,686 Listeners

16,581 Listeners

1,500 Listeners

678 Listeners

1,618 Listeners

665 Listeners

13 Listeners

619 Listeners

27 Listeners

91 Listeners

0 Listeners