Yrsa Daley-Ward’s The Catch is headed to the small screen, Deadline reports.
Daley-Ward’s novel, published in June by Liveright, is the first novel in the Well-Read Black Girl Books series. It follows twin sisters, Clara and Dempsey, who were raised in different families after their mother’s disappearance; they reconnect after Clara spots a doppelgänger of their mother shoplifting at a department store. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the book “elegant and unpredictable in the best possible way.”
The production company Osun Group (Stay Close, Supacell) optioned Daley-Ward’s novel. The author will be among the series’ executive producers.
“The Catch asks, ‘What if the person you fear most and the person you long for most were the same?” Daley-Ward told Deadline. “I’ve often wondered what it would be like to meet my mother again, not as she was, but as I am. The TV adaptation takes that unsettling question and spins it into an edgy, psychological suspense about family, obsession, and the terror of recognition.”
Sheila Nortley of Osun Group said, “Yrsa’s storytelling has a way of getting under the skin and holding a mirror up to our most uncomfortable truths. To have such a bold and inventive novel as our first scripted adaptation at Osun Group is both an honor and a statement of intent. I can’t wait to bring it to the screen.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
