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Ask Again, Yes
Oh I loved this book so much. It's one of those ones where you think you'll just read for a bit before doing something else then you look up and its been l... READ MORE
One of the best books of 2019!
Mary Beth Keane has a magical way of creating her characters so fully and with so much texture to them. This book tackles family drama, family love and fam... READ MORE
Synopsis
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND RADIO 2 SUMMER BOOK CLUB PICK
'The new Little Fires Everywhere . . . The perfect summer read' STYLIST
'Stunning! An absolutely brilliant, gorgeously-written novel. A must-read for our time' LISA TADDEO
'Immersive and deeply moving' ANNA HOPE
'I absolutely adored it' LIANE MORIARTY
*Features an extract from Mary Beth Keane's new novel The Half Moon!*
_____________
Two ordinary families. One life-changing day . . .
When the Gleesons and the Stanhopes become neighbours, lonely Lena Gleeson wants a friend. But Anne Stanhope - cold, elegant, unstable - wants to be left alone.
It's left to their children - Lena's youngest, Kate, and Anne's only child, Peter - to find their way to one another.
To form a friendship whose resilience and love will be almost broken by the fault line dividing both families, and a tragedy that will engulf them all.
A tragedy whose true origins only become clear many years later . . .
When everything has fallen apart, can their children's love pull it back together again?
_____________
A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN PRIMA, VOGUE, PEOPLE, ELLE AND NPR
'It's an absolute stunner, an ode to family and forgiveness that has been crafted with compassion and insight' Sara Collins, bestselling author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton
'Keane takes on one of the most difficult problems in fiction - how to write about human decency . . . a compelling case for compassion over blame, understanding over grudge, and the resilience of hearts that can accept the contradictions of love' Louise Erdrich, National Book Award winning author of The Round House
'Leaves one shaking one's head in frank admiration. A triumph' Matthew Thomas, bestselling author of We Are Not Ourselves
Publisher information
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- ISBN: 9781405943130
- Number of pages: 384
- Dimensions: 197 x 130 x 27 mm
- Weight: 286g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
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Ask Again, Yes please
Ask Again, Yes is a moving family saga set around two blue-collar police families in New York State.
Kate and Peter are two star-crossed lovers that are de... READ MORE
This one will stay with me for a while
This is yet another book that has left me hoping that the characters have a good life after the story ends. This is certainly moving and perhaps a bit hear... READ MORE
A Good Read
Ask again Yes is the love story of Kate and Peter and their Families starting from the 1970's to present time .Two NYC Police Officers move next door to ea... READ MORE
Contemporary Fiction with a real Pull
I received an ARC of this book via net galley. Two police officers meet in training and end up as partners for a short period eventually becoming neighbour... READ MORE
Epic, literary family drama
Thanks to Michael Jospeh and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of this title.
Ask Again, Yes is an epic family saga that follows the lives of two families f... READ MORE
Satisfying family saga
A satisfying family saga with well drawn characters I came to really care about and, although we parted with a sense of optimism about their future, I was... READ MORE
An impressive tale of family and what it means
I hardly know where to begin to review this book. I think it's one that will keep coming back to me over the next few days, so immersed in the characters' ... READ MORE
Deeply moving and poignant
Stretched over four decades, Ask Again, Yes, is a deeply moving and poignant story of two families bound together by a tragedy that is impossible to forget... READ MORE
Both Mysterious & Surprising!
This is a solid read, demanding full attention and not a book you can lightly skip through.
Moving out of the city, newlyweds Lena and Francis look forwar... READ MORE
Beautifully crafted and written
‘Ask Again, Yes’ is a totally absorbing read, beautifully crafted and written with empathy and care. This novel pretty much encapsulates everything about l... READ MORE
The only love is kindness.
“The only love is kindness.”
This is a story of a dysfunctional family and of the collateral damage of addiction. It is also a story of an individual who,... READ MORE
Outstanding
I thought Ask Again, Yes was an incredible read. Such a tragic, heartbreaking story told through beautiful, fluid writing. This book will remain in my thou... READ MORE
A stunning family drama
Ask Again, Yes gives us a view into the lives of two families intertwined with each other through tragic events. The story starts in the 70s with Francis a... READ MORE
A deeply moving family drama
Stretched over four decades, Ask Again, Yes, is a deeply moving and poignant story of two families bound together by a tragedy that is impossible to forget... READ MORE
A Gripping and emotional read
An emotionally charged novel, which maps the fortunes of two neighbouring families: The Gleesons and Stanhopes, as their children grow up. Both families ha... READ MORE
This one will stay with me for a while
This is yet another book that has left me hoping that the characters have a good life after the story ends. This is certainly moving and perhaps a bit hear... READ MORE
Great Read.
Francis and Brian both Irish immigrants and both working for NYPD move into neighbouring houses with their wives and families. Francis has three girls and... READ MORE
Interesting and well written book
Skilfully written with excellent descriptions and narrative.
The story focuses on two families in New York from the seventies to the noughts with serious i... READ MORE
Well-written and finely wrought
I really enjoyed this novel! Ordinarily I would have dismissed it as a romance based on the title, but I'm so glad I didn't because it is much more than th... READ MORE
Fantastic gripping story . A great read
ASK AGAIN, YES
BY
MARY BETH KEANE
Francis and Brian, work together in NYPD and with the idea of living outside the city, they move out to a quiet a... READ MORE
Well written, with characters you actually care about
This is a compelling story of families, neighbours, mental health, addiction and above all forgiveness and love.
It is well written, with characters you a... READ MORE
Family drama done right
I honestly loved this book. It made me cry. Usually books that make me cry do so with either sadness or joy, but this was something in between.
I just lov... READ MORE
A Magnificent Tour-de-force
My thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC of Ask Again, Yes. Mary Beth Keane's novel is a magnificent tour-de-... READ MORE
An involving and ultimately redemptive family drama
Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes is the story of two families, neighbours in upstate New York, and how life can change in an instant but may take a generat... READ MORE
Carefully-crafted family drama
Ask Again, Yes is a carefully-crafted family drama, exploring how a single tragic event shapes the lives of two families.
The writing is wonderfully assur... READ MORE
An emotional family drama well told
Two rookie cops, Francis and Brian, patrol together in New York for 6 weeks. They move to adjacent houses in an upstate suburb. Brian's wife is standoffish... READ MORE
A story of two 20th century families who live next door to each other near New York and the interaction between them over a 50 year period.
This is a family saga centred round two families who live next door to each other in a quiet community an hour or so from the city. Both the husbands work ... READ MORE
Really enjoyed this book
Kate and Peter grow up next door to each other. Their dads are policeman and Kate's mum would love to be friends with Peter's mum but she is rather cold an... READ MORE
compelling family saga
I love a good family saga. Ask Again, Yes is a compelling one, a great read to get yourself lost in. It follows the lives of Gleeson and Stanhope families ... READ MORE
An Instant Classic
From the moment I began reading Mary Beth Keane's story of a trauma that shatters the lives of neighbouring families in New York in the nineteen seventies,... READ MORE
Intense and beautiful
Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. This was a great read; the stor... READ MORE
Ask Again, Yes
I’ll not rehash the plot, since the publishers’ blurb says as much as could be said without giving it all away. I will say this is a perfect American fami... READ MORE
Superb
Couldn't put it down, intrigued right to the end!
A very good read
This is a family saga over a period of 40 years. As a British reader there were parts of the American systems that I had no knowledge of, but the author’s... READ MORE
A slow start but really pays off
I really enjoy family dramas and saga’s so I had high hopes for this book. It mostly lived up to my expectations. The characters are well written and flesh... READ MORE
Superb domestic drama for our modern times
A superb read, predominantly about two Irish-American families in New York, beginning with the two men (Brian and Francis) meeting on the job as NYPD offic... READ MORE
Must Read
Good. Interesting story. Centres on two families that live across from one another and how one tragic event can reverberate down the years. Deals with issu... READ MORE
An epic family saga
This is a novel spanning several decades and following the fortunes of two families. It starts with the introduction of two rookie NYPD officers who don’t ... READ MORE
Loved this book
This book has to be one of my favorite reads! I really enjoyed how the characters grew and evolved over time. The time frame of the book was exactly when... READ MORE
Ask Again, Yes
Peter and Katie have known each other since they were babies. Now teenagers they have a growing attachment but in trying to do something about this they in... READ MORE
A book to make you think
An absolutely beautiful read!
This story explores love, forgiveness and the ability to move on. It questions whether we can move on and how this will def... READ MORE
Gorgeous family saga
This is a really gripping and moving family saga, very reminiscent, as others have said, of the novels of Anne Tyler. The story covers forty plus years in ... READ MORE
Engrossing family saga
This is a family saga: two American families become neighbours and (the husbands) work colleagues, and their lives are entwined for both good and ill.
I li... READ MORE
Love, hope and family loyalty
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane is a wonderful, engrossing book. It tells of childhood friends who grow up together happily devoted to each other until a... READ MORE
Ask Again Yes - Yes!
This would not usually be my preferred genre of novel, however once I started reading it I did not want to put it down. This is a powerfully written famil... READ MORE
Modern families
A wonderful book, left me very emotional, it absolutely captures modern life, relationships, family dynamics in such a searingly honest way. Although the f... READ MORE
Wonderfully told
Wow. It's a struggle to write what I thought of this book because it made me feel so many things. It felt so real. The characters, their lives, their envir... READ MORE
The Lives of Two Families.
This domestic drama focuses on two neighbouring families and is set in the 1970's through to the present day and several generations of the families. The s... READ MORE
Relationships, love an more importantly forgiveness.
Ask Again, Yes is a book that you will fly through, the chapters are long so saying just one more chapter will take up more time than you thought and by th... READ MORE
Family Drama at its Best
4.5 stars
This was a fantastic family drama. Mental health and addiction are two of the main themes in the story of two families who live next door to ea... READ MORE
Intense read
I have to be honest, Psychological thrillers aren't usually my thing, and I did take a little time to get in to the story, but once I was in there, I was ... READ MORE
Mary Beth Keane writes bravely and with clear insight about familial friction and dysfunction.
At the end of ‘Ask Again Yes’, Lena says to her husband as they think back over half a century, ‘“I think we’ve been luckier than most people.”’ This migh... READ MORE
unputdownable contemporary thriller
I could not drag myself away from the haunting, sad story of how a family passes on its dysfunction to next generation. Fathers and sons are cops, the wo... READ MORE
Moving!
This is a moving story of families and love. At times it felt quite slow and drawn out but as it spanned over several decades I felt this was right. Beauti... READ MORE
It’s never what you think
This is a really cleverly written book. A pure family saga type drama with plenty to keep you interested in.
We have two families who end up living next d... READ MORE
Gripping family drama
Ask Again, Yes tells the story of two families - the Gleesons and the Stanhopes - over several years, focusing particularly on the friendship between the y... READ MORE
Quite a heavy read, but worthwhile
This family saga is quite a heavy read, woven through with melancholy threads concerning loneliness, loss (of homeland, family, children and more), alcohol... READ MORE
An enthralling story of family and friendships
'Ask Again, Yes' is a complex story of two families who are neighbours, the Stanhopes and the Gleesons. Two of their children have been friends since child... READ MORE
Family ties
I liked the way this was written, there was lots of detail which brought it to life. The setting is New York with a pair of families whose fathers, of Iris... READ MORE
A story of growing, forgiveness & love
This story is about the importance of family and commitment and hard work and facing problems. The Gleeson Family wrap you in their warmth and routines com... READ MORE
an insightful read...
would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book about family life
this book is so much more than mental health issu... READ MORE
Family Dysfunction In Upstate New York
‘Ask Again, Yes’ covers forty years in the lives of two Irish-American families in New York. Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, their wives Lena and Anna,... READ MORE
Fab Fab Fab!
I loved this book. Having read a few stinkers, this was the book I needed to make me remember why I love reading.
An enjoyable tale of two families who... READ MORE
What a read!
A poignant tale
I did enjoy this book but found it a little slow in parts
It is a very poignant tale about 2 families whose lives were torn apart following a serious inci... READ MORE
An amazing read.
Review Time
Ask Again Yes by @marybethkeane Published by @michaeljbooks @penguinukbooks
Now I must admit I totally underestimated this book and how good ... READ MORE
A Captivating Read
Two families inextricably linked by the events of one life changing evening. This is a story that by contrasts seemed filled with hope and yet ached with d... READ MORE
Really good read!!
I really enjoyed this book.
If you like a family drama that spans the years then this one is a fab book. It centres around 2 families the Gleesons and the ... READ MORE
Ask Again, Yes
Not my normal genre but I did enjoy this book. There were interesting twists and difficult topics handled very well and it was beautifully written through... READ MORE
Such an Amazing Read
A gripping and compassionate drama of two families linked by chance, love and tragedy
Gillam, upstate New York: a town of ordinary, big-lawned suburban hou... READ MORE
An engaging family drama charting two American families over four decades
My thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Ask Again, Yes’ by Mary Beth Keane in exchange for an honest review. It was published in ... READ MORE
Fantastic book
Have you ever read a book which you couldn’t put down? Well this was the book for me. Even though I knew I had an very early airport drop off for my son I... READ MORE
Beautifully written story that grows on you
When I first started reading I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know about the lives of Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope a couple of 1970’s NYPD rookies , th... READ MORE
Fantastic
had no idea what to expect with this book but in the end, it blew me away. The story is captivating and pulled me in quickly; it was difficult to put the b... READ MORE
An engrossing read
I admit that I found the title somewhat confusing, but that could be my problem.
'Ask Again, Yes' is an engrossing saga, full of complexity that holds the... READ MORE
What a lovely refreshing read!
I throughly enjoyed this book, it was calming despite the heavy story line. The story was delivered in such a lovely way that it wasn’t a read where your h... READ MORE
Ask once or again I'd say Yes get it.
A gripping thriller of strong love Mental illness and love thy neighbour. Kate and Peter are neighbours both their dads are Police officers in New York gue... READ MORE
Great read
Interesting, poignant, unusual read. Two families, their lives, their loves, their flaws and their tragedies. Maybe you have to hit rock bottom, to expe... READ MORE
Honest and well.written
Ask Again Yes is a well written book about a family saga that would rip any normal family apart. It takes you through decades of a childhood almost destroy... READ MORE
Very disturbing story based oh historical facts
This was a very disturbing story based on historical facts. It is set during a period of history when people who didn't follow strict religious concepts we... READ MORE
Exquisite
Powerful, sweeping novels are like buses aren’t they? Nothing for ages and then boom! Loads of them. 2019 was a great year for fiction and Ask Again, Yes b... READ MORE
Compelling
A really compelling family saga. Starting in the 60's with newly wed neighbours striving for the American dream in suburban New York. Their children Kate... READ MORE
Beautifully written compelling read
A really compelling read in an all-American setting.
Two families, the Gleesons and the Stanhopes, both move into a new neighbourhood, both fathers workin... READ MORE
Engrossing family story
Ask Again, Yes is a moving, emotionally nuanced story of two families, the Gleesons and the Stanhopes. They are next-door neighbours when the novel opens.... READ MORE
Recommended
Two families, two generations. This is a story about trauma, loss, damage, loyalty, and ultimately love.
Ask Again, Yes is beautifully written. I felt Mar... READ MORE
One of my favourites of the year
I read this book as an ARC just before it came out in hardback.
I adored this book about 'suburban' life in New York state. Thinking back I don't think t... READ MORE
an insightful read
would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book about family life
this book is so much more than mental health issu... READ MORE
an insightful read
would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book about family life
this book is so much more than mental health issu... READ MORE
Fab book!
I loved this book, it reminded me a little of Little Fires Everywhere which is not a bad thing! Spanning four decades, it tells the story of two families w... READ MORE
Well written drama between two families spanning several decades
Ask Again, Yes is the story of two families who are neighbours in suburban New York in the 1970s. The two male heads of the houses, Francis and Brian, work... READ MORE
Well written and moving
Wow! This started off a little slowly for me but it didn't take long to be drawn in, thanks to beautiful writing and extremely well-drawn characters. Once... READ MORE
A multi-narrated book which provides new discoveries from each viewpoint.
I loved this book, it is a slow paced book, but still one that is difficult to put down. I am not always such a favourite of multi-narrated stories, but th... READ MORE
A complex woven tale of families
ASK AGAIN, YES is something of a heavy read with challenging topics; I felt like I had completed a marathon when I’d finished but I mean that in a good way... READ MORE
A wonderful and beautifully written story!
This is a genuinely lovely book! I was so excited to read it and it did not disappoint. This book traces the story of two families over many decades of the... READ MORE
Amazing!!
Really enjoyed the story and characters. Highly recommend!
A brilliant read.
Ask Again, Yes is one of my favourite books of 2019. It begins with an introduction to Francis and Lena Gleeson and a glimpse into their family history. Th... READ MORE
Amazing opus of latter 20th Century New York
An amazing opus of a book. Keane has created a labyrinth structure of a novel featuring memorable characters, the setting of recent late millennium gives a... READ MORE
Fabulous !
Oh what a book ! I absolutely loved this . It is a poignant story about 2 families- their relationships and the tragedy that changes their lives forever ... READ MORE
insightful
would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book about family life
this book is so much more than mental health issu... READ MORE
Beautifully realised
A family drama told over decades in beautifully realised detail.
Two NYPD rookies end up living next door to each other just outside of the city. They are... READ MORE
Great writing and themes
Did I love it? No.
Did I hate it? No.
The book started out really strong for me, I was really intrigued. But in the second half of the book, it was a... READ MORE
Engaging family saga
I very much enjoyed this novel, following two families through the last twentieth century. Mary Beth Keane covers a potentially heavy subject matter with a... READ MORE
A book that will always stay with me
I loved this book, it covered so much. Family, friendship, love, mental health, depression, alcoholism, betrayal, tragedy and so much more, set from the 19... READ MORE
Literature...with a twist
This reminds me of Anne Tyler...literature with a Liane Moriarty twist.
Two families live next door to each other. The fathers are both policemen, not frie... READ MORE
Slow paced, well written
This book was at times slow reading skipping from one year to then a few years later. Seeing the children mainly Pete and Kate growing up. The Stanhope and... READ MORE
Families Torn Apart by Mental Illness
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
This is a novel about family, alcoholism and its devastating effects and the terrible damage wrought by mental illness. ... READ MORE
“The thing is, Peter, grown-ups don’t know what they’re doing any better than kids do. That’s the truth.”
In this drama, two families live side-by-side, until a shocking event tears them asunder. Over the decades that follow the characters build themselves back... READ MORE
Compelling family saga
Ask Again, Yes was compelling from start to finish. It’s a family saga, but more specifically the growing up and growing together of two children from ver... READ MORE
Excellent read
I found this a fascinating read full of emotion. Gripping and a real page turner. Extremely well written and manages to hold the reader's attention from ... READ MORE
Disappointing.
I quite enjoyed finding out about the characters in this character driven read, although it is lacking in plot and not an easy read. It is well written and... READ MORE