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Motherclown: A Novel
Indigo’s Most Anticipated Books of 2026 CBC Books Spring Fiction List 2026
A dual coming-of-age story about performance—both public and private—sexuality, envy, and grief. Motherclown explores the most fundamental and potentially explosive of human that of a mother and her daughter.
In the wake of her father’s death, twenty-one-year-old Elise leaves her boyfriend, mother, and hometown of Niagara Falls to move to Paris. She’s earned a place at Chevalier, an elite physical theatre school with a focus on clown. Not “clown-clown,” but the pursuit of an inner child. At Chevalier, they don’t follow scripts—they follow their souls. The school is merciless, and it is the best.
Left behind, Elise’s mother, Catherine, is unravelling. At first she feels irritated, as if she’s just been from wife to widow, mother to empty-nester. She longs for the creative life she lost when she became pregnant, and in the quiet of the empty house, she becomes haunted by regret, and a secret she never told her daughter. When Elise disappears into Paris, Catherine follows.
But Elise, awakening to her own creative power, feels ambushed by her mother’s arrival. As Paris works its spell on them both, old wounds surface and resentments ignite. Can Elise hear her mother without losing herself? Can Catherine face the real reason she followed her daughter to Paris, or is she there—as Elise believes—to swallow her daughter whole?
Motherclown is an electric novel about art and inheritance, desire and devotion, and the ferocious, vulnerable love between mothers and daughters.
A dual coming-of-age story about performance—both public and private—sexuality, envy, and grief. Motherclown explores the most fundamental and potentially explosive of human that of a mother and her daughter.
In the wake of her father’s death, twenty-one-year-old Elise leaves her boyfriend, mother, and hometown of Niagara Falls to move to Paris. She’s earned a place at Chevalier, an elite physical theatre school with a focus on clown. Not “clown-clown,” but the pursuit of an inner child. At Chevalier, they don’t follow scripts—they follow their souls. The school is merciless, and it is the best.
Left behind, Elise’s mother, Catherine, is unravelling. At first she feels irritated, as if she’s just been from wife to widow, mother to empty-nester. She longs for the creative life she lost when she became pregnant, and in the quiet of the empty house, she becomes haunted by regret, and a secret she never told her daughter. When Elise disappears into Paris, Catherine follows.
But Elise, awakening to her own creative power, feels ambushed by her mother’s arrival. As Paris works its spell on them both, old wounds surface and resentments ignite. Can Elise hear her mother without losing herself? Can Catherine face the real reason she followed her daughter to Paris, or is she there—as Elise believes—to swallow her daughter whole?
Motherclown is an electric novel about art and inheritance, desire and devotion, and the ferocious, vulnerable love between mothers and daughters.
- GenresFictionContemporary
Audible Audio
Published June 2, 2026
About the author
Harriet Alida Lye
7 books94 followersHarriet Alida Lye is the author of four books: two novels, one memoir, and one children's picture book. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Globe & Mail, The National Post, The Happy Reader, Hazlitt, Vice, Catapult, and more. She founded the literary magazine Her Royal Majesty, which ran for six years and republished the first ever short story by Alice Munro. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Toronto. She lives in Toronto with her partner, their two children, and two dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 2, 2026
A fascinating story of a complicated mother daughter relationship that equally celebrates the kitschy-ness of Niagara Falls and the beauty of Paris.
I never thought I’d become so engrossed with a book about a woman who runs off to go to Clown school but this book explores relationships, sexuality and identity SO well!!
I especially enjoyed the endometriosis rep and the way both women grow as artists (the mother with her painting and the daughter with her performance skills). It was also great on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Heather O’Neill.
I never thought I’d become so engrossed with a book about a woman who runs off to go to Clown school but this book explores relationships, sexuality and identity SO well!!
I especially enjoyed the endometriosis rep and the way both women grow as artists (the mother with her painting and the daughter with her performance skills). It was also great on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Heather O’Neill.
May 28, 2026
Thank you to PRH Canada for this eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.
I totally requested this thinking it was a horror novel and I was completely wrong; not to say some aspects couldn't be described as horrific in certain ways, it just wasn't what I was expecting, but it wasn't bad at all.
Actually, it was significantly moving! This novel explores SO MUCH: identity, familial relationships, sexuality and even more.
The author writes in a way that doesn't stunt the meaning of her sentences, each one is truly explicit in what it means and makes the reading experience easy.
I did cry / tear up a couple of times connecting to the mother-daughter aspect that fully encompasses this book. There were some really intense moments and feelings expressed in this novel that didn't affect me per se, but may affect others so I highly recommend checking trigger warnings.
All in all it was a solid read!
I totally requested this thinking it was a horror novel and I was completely wrong; not to say some aspects couldn't be described as horrific in certain ways, it just wasn't what I was expecting, but it wasn't bad at all.
Actually, it was significantly moving! This novel explores SO MUCH: identity, familial relationships, sexuality and even more.
The author writes in a way that doesn't stunt the meaning of her sentences, each one is truly explicit in what it means and makes the reading experience easy.
I did cry / tear up a couple of times connecting to the mother-daughter aspect that fully encompasses this book. There were some really intense moments and feelings expressed in this novel that didn't affect me per se, but may affect others so I highly recommend checking trigger warnings.
All in all it was a solid read!
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
"Motherclown" successfully reveals the two opposing characters' personalities and inner emotional turmoil with ease, while addressing the complex narrative of motherhood and the fraught relationship found between mother and daughter in this novel.
The writing easily holds the reader's interest (I turned the pages quickly and remained engaged until the end), while also speaking to larger themes of aspirations, art, creativity, sexuality, motherhood, grief, and the fight for asserting identity and autonomy in the face of life-altering events and expectations from others, even oneself.
While the above is what made the book enjoyable and easy to read, I found the characters, while depicted easily according to the roles they played in the novel, to not have revealed more depth of character that I had hoped to come to know. While they themselves may not have been superficial, they were written in such a way that they felt like characters circumstantially and stereotypically placed, holding only names.
While I tried to empathize with both main characters, I found the mother needy and the daughter, petulant, and their inner and outer world, self-absorbed, and perhaps clichéd.
So not to reveal any spoilers, I found both mother and daughter, in their self-absorption to reveal an emotional immaturity I would not expect, nor respect of characters of their age and their privilege.
If you enjoy an easy read, are creatively inclined, love the arts, and have a volatile relationship with your mother and/or motherhood, then yes, this book can offer you a story.
But, if you require lyrical language that leads to meaningful, revelatory, universal truths, more depth of character without self-absorption and vague, overreaching inner POV that almost make these characters and their experiences cliché, and more movement and complexity of plot—well, you'll need to keep searching the shelves.
An enjoyable, easy read that attempts to complicate the already complex narrative of motherhood, grief, and relationship. Where the book's success and movement lay in the inner dialogue of its main characters, it is the same inner dialogue that also made the characters and their story, petulant and self-absorbed with unfortunately, too easy of an ending that left me with a three-star rating. Not terrible—but not great.
The writing easily holds the reader's interest (I turned the pages quickly and remained engaged until the end), while also speaking to larger themes of aspirations, art, creativity, sexuality, motherhood, grief, and the fight for asserting identity and autonomy in the face of life-altering events and expectations from others, even oneself.
While the above is what made the book enjoyable and easy to read, I found the characters, while depicted easily according to the roles they played in the novel, to not have revealed more depth of character that I had hoped to come to know. While they themselves may not have been superficial, they were written in such a way that they felt like characters circumstantially and stereotypically placed, holding only names.
While I tried to empathize with both main characters, I found the mother needy and the daughter, petulant, and their inner and outer world, self-absorbed, and perhaps clichéd.
So not to reveal any spoilers, I found both mother and daughter, in their self-absorption to reveal an emotional immaturity I would not expect, nor respect of characters of their age and their privilege.
If you enjoy an easy read, are creatively inclined, love the arts, and have a volatile relationship with your mother and/or motherhood, then yes, this book can offer you a story.
But, if you require lyrical language that leads to meaningful, revelatory, universal truths, more depth of character without self-absorption and vague, overreaching inner POV that almost make these characters and their experiences cliché, and more movement and complexity of plot—well, you'll need to keep searching the shelves.
An enjoyable, easy read that attempts to complicate the already complex narrative of motherhood, grief, and relationship. Where the book's success and movement lay in the inner dialogue of its main characters, it is the same inner dialogue that also made the characters and their story, petulant and self-absorbed with unfortunately, too easy of an ending that left me with a three-star rating. Not terrible—but not great.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Motherclown captured me from the first page. Told through the alternating perspectives of a mother and daughter, their strained relationship feels intensely real.
Catherine became a mother very young and carries the ache of a life she imagined but never lived. When her daughter Elise gets the chance to move to Paris to attend clown school, Catherine is both impressed and unsettled. She follows, hoping to reconnect with Elise and perhaps reclaim something of herself along the way.
Harriet Alida Lye weaves together suspense, a beautifully rendered sensual relationship between Elise and a young Parisienne, and themes of midlife identity, sex and power, lost potential, and the complicated tension and love between a mother and daughter.
Beautifully written and hard to put down, this is a novel you’ll want to add to your must-read list for 2026.
Catherine became a mother very young and carries the ache of a life she imagined but never lived. When her daughter Elise gets the chance to move to Paris to attend clown school, Catherine is both impressed and unsettled. She follows, hoping to reconnect with Elise and perhaps reclaim something of herself along the way.
Harriet Alida Lye weaves together suspense, a beautifully rendered sensual relationship between Elise and a young Parisienne, and themes of midlife identity, sex and power, lost potential, and the complicated tension and love between a mother and daughter.
Beautifully written and hard to put down, this is a novel you’ll want to add to your must-read list for 2026.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
An emotional telling of a mother daughter relationship, this book captures some of the subtle nuances of wanting to be closer with your daughter while struggling with past trauma. The audiobook is a joy and is incredibly moving. Highly recommend !!!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This book was beautifully written, both main characters compelling, relatable, and interesting. The mother, daughter dynamics were so real and heartbreaking. The author described the setting of the novel perfectly. I was captivated. What a wonderful read - highly recommend!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A heartwarming mother/daughter, healing through grief, coming of age and queer awakening all packed under 400 pages.
This did miss the 5/5 for me, I wanted to go deeper and get grittier on these dark subjects. I especially felt I didn’t get enough from Elise’s theatre experience and that I just scraped the surface. After the boat exercise I was left wanting to see more of Elise’s processing through her art.
However, I really loved how vibrant the writing was, I really can still picture both Elise’s apartment and her mom’s hotel room.
Review in exchange for net galley ARC
This did miss the 5/5 for me, I wanted to go deeper and get grittier on these dark subjects. I especially felt I didn’t get enough from Elise’s theatre experience and that I just scraped the surface. After the boat exercise I was left wanting to see more of Elise’s processing through her art.
However, I really loved how vibrant the writing was, I really can still picture both Elise’s apartment and her mom’s hotel room.
Review in exchange for net galley ARC
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I really enjoyed Motherclown's depiction of the challenges a mother and daughter face as they deal with loss, grief, and the unresolved conflict they’ve painstakingly avoided for years. Lye's writing is engaging and succeeded in making me care for the characters and their struggles.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews