Ask Again, Yes
by Mary Beth Keane
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 8 Aug 2019 | Archive Date 1 Dec 2020
Penguin Michael Joseph | Michael Joseph
Talking about this book? Use #AskAgainYes #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
'A powerful and moving novel of family, trauma, and the defining moments in people's lives from a writer of extraordinary depth, feeling and wit. Readers will love this book, as I did' Meg Wolitzer, bestselling author of The Female Persuasion and The Wife
_____________
A gripping and compassionate family drama set between neighbours in suburban New York
Gillam, upstate New York: a town of ordinary, big-lawned suburban houses. The Gleesons have recently moved there and soon welcome the Stanhopes as their new 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 by the terrible tragedy that will engulf them all. A tragedy whose true origins only become clear many years later . . .
A story of love and redemption, faith and forgiveness, Ask Again, Yes reveals the way childhood memories change when viewed from the distance of adulthood - villains lose their menace, and those who appeared innocent seem less so. It's a story of how, if we're lucky, the violence lurking beneath everyday life can be vanquished by the power of love.
_____________
'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
Advance Praise
'Stunning! An absolutely brilliant, gorgeously-written novel by a fearless writer. Ask Again, Yes is both haunting and hopeful, like life itself. It's the consummate epic family story, one I can't stop thinking and talking about. A must-read for our time’ Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women
“Keane’s gracefully restrained prose gives her characters dignity, even as they mistreat one another and let their lives fall apart. The novel spans decades and shows how difficult forgiveness can be – and how it amounts to a kind of hard-won grace” US Vogue: Summer’s Hottest Read
“Keane’s novel is a rare example of propulsive storytelling infused with profound insights about blame, forgiveness and abiding love.” People Magazine
“A beautiful novel, bursting at the seams with empathy” Elle
An Amazon Best Book of June 2019: “Mary Beth Keane is a fantastic writer. She has the kind of authorial magic that makes her characters appear in the imagination as complete, fully realized human beings. They are alive—and Ask Again, Yes is about the entirety of those characters’ lives” Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review
“Keane writes with acute sensitivity and characters are consistently, authentically lived-in. . . . smartly told.” Entertainment Weekly
“Ask Again, Yes achieves that delicious combination of deeply rendered character portraits, compelling plot, and underline-able prose. The novel will appeal to fans of Ann Patchett or Celeste Ng — or anyone who's ever had a neighbour” Refinery 29
‘Read this when it’s published in August. You’ll thank me’ Alison Finch, BBC Radio
“An immersive read about family secrets and redemption.” Alice O’Keefe, Editor’s Choice for August, The Bookseller
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780241410905 |
| PRICE | £14.99 (GBP) |
| PAGES | 400 |