Title: Ask Again, Yes

Author: Mary Beth Keane  

Genre: Contemporary     

Publisher: Scribner Books  

Format: Paperback

Pages: 400

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring 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 neighbors, 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.

Review:

Thank you to @simonschusterca for sending me a copy of this book!

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Holy this book! I’d been this book around bookstagram and knew there was some hype around it, and I knew that it was literary fiction that spanned a couple families over decades. So I thought ok yeah that sounds intriguing. But this book drew me in, got me so hooked into the story, and then wrecked me 😭 so good!

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The book follows these two families who live next to each other until a tragedy strikes and will forever tie the families together! And while the story and the plot were super engaging, I think what turned it into a five star read for me was the characters! The book is told from multiple perspectives during different time periods, which really help to understand the story. Just when you feel a certain way about a character, the author knows it’s time to change perspectives to change your outlook! Like what fantastic writing! To be able to change my feelings on characters as we go, that I literally felt like I was on a ride at a theme park or something! And the characters themselves develop in such interesting ways! Katie goes from being a happy go lucky kid to trying to figure out what she wants, even though she knows that what she really wants will put a strain on her family. And Peter goes from being a small boy you feel bad for to this young man navigating adulthood and trying to find his place in this world! –

I highly recommend this book!

Happy reading!