Published by Scribner on 28 May 2019
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A profoundly moving novel about two neighbouring families in a suburban town, the friendship between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, and the power of forgiveness.
Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope are two NYPD rookies assigned to the same Bronx precinct in 1973. They aren’t close friends on the job, but end up living next door to each other outside the city. What goes on behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the stunning events to come.
Ask Again, Yes by award-winning author Mary Beth Keane, is a beautifully moving exploration of the friendship and love that blossoms between Francis’s youngest daughter, Kate, and Brian’s son, Peter, who are born six months apart. In the spring of Kate and Peter’s eighth grade year a violent event divides the neighbours, the Stanhopes are forced to move away, and the children are forbidden to have any further contact.
But Kate and Peter find a way back to each other, and their relationship is tested by the echoes from their past. Ask Again, Yes reveals how the events of childhood look different when reexamined from the distance of adulthood—villains lose their menace, and those who appeared innocent seem less so. Kate and Peter’s love story is marked by tenderness, generosity, and grace.
This was a family drama--of two families actually--but my heart ached for Kate and Peter particularly. At once you can see that they have a deep understanding of each other, and you can't help but root for them. Wanting to know whether they and their families would be able to overcome their traumas and find happiness kept me plowing through this book, and I finished it in three sittings.
That was a great life, in Kate's view. What else could there be? If they reminded themselves that these small things were enough, she believed, then they'd always be okay.
I was anticipating a coming-of-age story about Kate and Peter, but this story spanned much more of their lives than the transition from youth to adulthood (I forgot about the "reverberates over four decades" part of the blurb oops). Some phases of their lives sped by when the narrative focused on other members of their families; I would have loved more about Kate and Peter in those moments, though I suppose this isn't meant to be a romance novel exactly!
If you like this book, you might like: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.
Reading buddy: Mckenzie's review
