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Kitten
- Author
- Stacey Yu
- Narrator
- Annie Q. Riegel
- Publisher
- Hodder & Stoughton
- Publish Date
- 30 July 2026
- Run Time
- 7 hours 44 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
'[A] brilliant study of need, want, loneliness, and power . . . soft and sharp, totally in control, utterly deranged. I lapped it up' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE, author of Almost Life
'Hilarious and moving' JEAN KYOUNG FRAZIER, author of Pizza Girl
A magnetic novel about a young woman who falls in love with her boyfriend's cat.
Katie hasn't spoken to her mother in a year when her boyfriend James introduces her to his cat Silver. A small, vulnerable, incorrigible ball of need, Silver's acceptance of Katie cracks open something inside of her: an unravelling begins.
Fresh out of college and far from home, Katie is desperate to skirt the demands of adult life - especially because, as she promised her mother, the plan was to never grow up in the first place. Luckily, she has James: self-assured, generous, and seemingly happy to make decisions for them both.
When they go on holiday to James's family's seaside home, Katie's attachment to Silver grows. Silver doesn't mind that Katie can't seem to get a job, hold her own at dinner parties, or make amends with her mother. Silver, who gets to misbehave spectacularly, be childish, be gross, and still get fed, seems to have the life Katie increasingly longs for. But as their bond intensifies, Katie's other relationships reach tipping points. Soon, Katie must come to terms with what she really wants, and what she might have to risk to get it.
Delicately playful and unexpectedly heartfelt, Kitten is a sensitive reckoning with the allure of helplessness and the uncertainty of becoming yourself in a world that is as disorienting as it is full of hope and connection.
Critics Review
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Kitten captures the vulnerability of early adulthood with startling precision. Abound in wit and restraint, the novel explores the funny yet unsettling complexities of modern love. What does it mean to be looked after versus seen? Are love and safety one and the same? A fearless debut!
Weike Wang, author of Chemistry
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Stacey Yu's Kitten is as tender and brutal as a kiss to the most wounded part of yourself. Yu perfectly captures how it feels to be young and terrified of yourself. To call a novel this fierce Kitten . . . Yu's eye for friction and chaos should be studied
Ruth Madievsky, author of All Night Pharmacy
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Within the first few lines of Stacey Yu's Kitten so much is revealed with such tact and precision, and it's a telling sign for the rest of the novel. A novel so astute and honest while its main character struggles to be, a novel that examines the truths and complexities of love and living in a way that forces its reader to reevaluate their approaches to life, and perhaps every experience with another person they've ever had. Kitten is a spellbinding story written by a wildly intelligent author whose observations and understanding of our relationships both with others and ourselves is a marvel to read. The moment you've finished this book, it will play on your mind for days
Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of US
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Even the most loyal dog person will read Stacey Yu's weird, wry, and surprisingly tender debut Kitten and be charmed. A hilarious and moving novel about your twenties, about stumbling into adulthood, and the pleasure and pain of realizing you can be and do whatever you want
Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of Pizza Girl
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Kitten is a playful, subtle and brilliant study of need, want, loneliness, and power. It bats around scalding insights about mothers and daughters, wealth, the gig economy, and how relationships are always transactional, one way or another. But it does this without cynicism or undercutting the tenderness at its heart. It's soft and sharp, totally in control, utterly deranged. I lapped it up
Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of Almost Life
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Stacey Yu's prose is as precise and honed as a cat's claw, splitting open the skin of the early adolescent experience. An endearing meditation that will resonate with anyone who has been young, lost, and stagnant, Kitten will leave you aching with its insights on the weight of childhood and the possibility of adulthood
Alice Evelyn Yang, author of A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing
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I was completely unable to resist reading it in one sitting. Exquisitely constructed and unexpected . . . Stacey Yu is unique
Jennifer Croft, author of The Extinction of Irena Rey
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The beautifully written narrative clips along and is thought-provoking on loneliness and feeling out of step with the world
Daily Mail
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Both witty and unsettling, Kitten blends dark humour and emotional insight, marking Yu as one to watch in contemporary fiction.
i
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A thoughtful meditation on the fragile threshold between childhood and adulthood . . . you won't want to put [it] down
Service95
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Stacey Yu's Kitten caught me on the first page, and after that I was stuck like glue. This debut novel is bittersweet, deadpan, and wonderfully slippery
Kelly Link, author of THE BOOK OF LOVE
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A clever, luminous novel that perfectly captures the at times funny, aching messiness of young adulthood, and finding one's place in the world. I loved it
Cecile Pin, author of WANDERING SOULS
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Details
- Author
- Stacey Yu
- Narrator
- Annie Q. Riegel
- Duration
- 7 hours 44 minutes
- Release Date
- 30 July 2026
- ISBN
- 9781399754330
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Hodder & Stoughton
- Genre
- Classic fiction: literary and general, Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: coming of age, Narrative theme: death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: love / relationships
Synopsis
'Strange, playful and intimate . . . I didn't want it to end' LUCY ROSE, author of The Lamb'[A] brilliant study of need, want, loneliness, and power . . . soft and sharp, totally in control, utterly deranged. I lapped it up' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE, author of Almost Life'Hilarious and moving' JEAN KYOUNG FRAZIER, author of Pizza GirlA magnetic novel about a young woman who falls in love with her boyfriend's cat.Katie hasn't spoken to her mother in a year when her boyfriend James introduces her to his cat Silver. A small, vulnerable, incorrigible ball of need, Silver's acceptance of Katie cracks open something inside of her: an unravelling begins. Fresh out of college and far from home, Katie is desperate to skirt the demands of adult life - especially because, as she promised her mother, the plan was to never grow up in the first place. Luckily, she has James: self-assured, generous, and seemingly happy to make decisions for them both.When they go on holiday to James's family's seaside home, Katie's attachment to Silver grows. Silver doesn't mind that Katie can't seem to get a job, hold her own at dinner parties, or make amends with her mother. Silver, who gets to misbehave spectacularly, be childish, be gross, and still get fed, seems to have the life Katie increasingly longs for. But as their bond intensifies, Katie's other relationships reach tipping points. Soon, Katie must come to terms with what she really wants, and what she might have to risk to get it.Delicately playful and unexpectedly heartfelt, Kitten is a sensitive reckoning with the allure of helplessness and the uncertainty of becoming yourself in a world that is as disorienting as it is full of hope and connection.
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