This is a family saga, families who have had their lives effected by one persons extreme mental illness. The children of the families create their own family out of this time of misunderstanding and tragedy and out of this comes a story of love and healing, all be it incomplete and flawed, just as it is in true life. Strong characterisation throughout. Clearly the author knows how to write about life and relationships.

A gripping and emotional tale of two families growing up in the New York suburb of Gillam:
An emotionally charged novel, which maps the fortunes of two neighbouring families: The Gleesons and Stanhopes, as their children grow up. Both families have superficially much in common: Irish ancestry and both fathers are cops. Gradually however, the reader is made aware of their differences: the Gleesons are sociable, affable and responsible whilst the Stanhopes keep themselves to themselves: unusual in an immigrant community determined that their offspring will live the American Dream. Attempts by Lena, Francis Gleeson’s wife, to befriend the Stanhopes end in failure. As the novel progresses, we learn that the Stanhope family has serious fault lines which will have effects on all the community and the Gleeson family, in particular.
The story is mainly told through the eyes of Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope who become close childhood friends. The novel follows their coming of age, separation and later convergence after tragedy strikes. Can an individual overcome traits or genes in their family bloodline to lead a wholesome and fulfilling family life? Kate and Peter find that they face this challenge to achieve that.
This is Mary Beth Keane’s third novel and is a marvellous read: a novel which I found difficult to put down once I had started. That says a lot for the author, since the issues dealt with in “Ask Again Yes” are not those which I would normally choose to read about. My only negative comment on the novel is that I thought it might have benefited by being shorter. That comment aside, this is a novel about the good and bad in family life, and how, by pulling together, the good can overcome the bad. I highly recommend this novel to other readers.

Tricky novel about families who live next door,their interactions and perceptions of each other. One big incident changes and shapes their lives. I felt it jumped too many years at a time.

The story of two childhood sweethearts who live next door to each other and how one tragic event pulls them apart . The story intertwines between all the characters in a gripping page turner. A really enjoyable read to the very end.

This is a compelling story of families, neighbours, mental health, addiction and above all forgiveness and love.

It is well written, with characters you actually care about and a story that spans forty years. It is a little drawn out in places but the last quarter of the book moved along quickly.

Although the themes of mental health, alcoholism and the results of family trauma were investigated and portrayed credibly, in the main the characters themselves lacked the depth that would have lifted this book to a five star rating. I also found the title somewhat confusing.

Thank you though to NetGalley and Penguin for the opportunity to read this book and I wish it well on its publication..

This was the first book I've read from this author and I enjoyed it very much. It was very well written and the characters were well thought out.

Ask again, yes by Mary Beth Keane

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope are trainee policemen in the same precinct in New York.

They end up living next door to each other with their families in a suburb, and Frances’ daughter Kate, and Brian’s son Peter are close friends.
All is well until an event happens which rips them all apart, and makes people question their loyalties.
The story is told through various voices, Kate, Peter, Frances, his wife, Lena, and others. This is a good way to get different perspectives on the same event and works well.
I enjoyed the book, but didn’t warm to any of the characters, and I’d like to have heard more of some, like Lena, and Brian, to see their perspectives.

In the end, I couldn’t understand why certain characters made the decisions they made, for example what happened to all of Peter’s running potential?, and found the conclusion unsatisfying.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read this book.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin/Michael Joseph, and the author Mary Beth Keane.
Contemporary American literature written in the prevalent style of recent years. Normal families and normal lives that are ripped apart by a tragedy which echoes throughout future years and events. It covers the extraordinary elements of ordinary lives, and difficult themes of mental illness, alcoholism, and adultery.
I enjoyed this novel, but I didn't love it, and it didn't leave me with any profound impressions.
I read the book waiting for a denouement which never really arrived, leaving the ending falling a little flat. However, the characters are beautifully written and dynamically portrayed.
3.5/5

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 ok stars

This book started really strong however it became quite slow going and drawn out.

I couldn’t really engage with any of the characters, and the most interesting character of Anne, we wait until 60% in until we read her story.

I kind of knew how the Peter / Kate storyline would pan out, so for me the book was too long and too depressing with no real ‘hook’

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 incident one day
The book takes the reader through the lives of the families both prior to and following the incident and leads us concisely through the years
Definitely a thought provoking novel worth reading and I would recommend to others

I found this book really moving and quite gripping in parts. It's not the sort of thing I'd normally pick up, but from very early on I started to care about the characters and wanted to know how their lives unfolded.

This book starts roughly in the 60s and comes right up to present day. It follows the lives of two families in north east US. All the characters feel real and flawed and complicated and I loved how the author didn't make any parts of their lives saccharine or soppy. That's not to say it wasn't moving - I had tears in my eyes twice whilst reading, but it always felt very real and raw.

For some characters, it's a coming of age story. For all the characters, it's a study about how life doesn't go the way you planned and you can't always behave the way you'd like. I think the themes here, particularly the theme of forgiveness, will stay with me and I'll turn them over for a while.

About two thirds of the way through the book did slow, but recovered. And sometimes there was too much 'tell' or I'd feel like a page was a summary of something that should have been more filled out. But overall I just think this is an absolute gem of a book that makes you reflect on the importance off love and kindness, to others and ourselves.

A well written and thought provoking novel. It addresses some big issues but in a fairly sensitive way. I liked the setting of New York and the way the book tells the story over four decades. It was sometimes moving, sometimes sad but overall gripping and made me want to read it to the end, hoping to see a satisfactory conclusion. I think there were some threads that got lost along the way but it didn’t really detract from a damn good read. I would recommend it to those who like a family saga with drama.

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 inadvertently bring about their separation. Peter moves away from their home town to New York and they don't meet again until years later. Will their relationship survive the trauma that was part of their earlier years or will this drive them apart?

This is a sensitively written novel about mental illness, functional alcoholism and whether we can ever really redeem ourselves for a terrible act. It is also about forgiveness and acceptance. I found the characters believable especially Peter's mother whose experience of mental illness is realistic and moving. I don't know whether I actually enjoyed the book as it is quite difficult to read about subjects like that but I nonetheless wholeheartedly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC>

Two families are linked by an act of violence that changes the course of their lives as they attempt to move past the tragedy.

This book was completely unknown to me at the time - I was given an ARC. I didn’t know what to expect but found I was presently surprised by the way the story unfolded. What seemed to be a typical story took a number of unexpected turns, with deep emotional consequences and many trigger points. Overall, it was a great piece of writing and I’m glad I got to read it as it wouldn’t have been something I’d pick out usually.

A great family saga to get your teeth into, this absorbed me and kept me reading. I got through it quickly and thoroughly enjoyed every page. Highly recommended.

Ask Again, Yes starts in the 1970's with two young rookie cops who are paired up with each other on their first beat in NYC and finishes in the present day. It's almost a saga, following them as they marry, move to neighbouring houses in suburbia and have children who grow up together. The story then pivots on a tragic event that comes to pass one night and changes their lives forever, and we then follow the effects of this over the coming years.

What this book did really well was to explore how much we are products of our families, both in terms of upbringing but also more fundamentally- the author treats themes of alcoholism and mental illness particularly convincingly. We also see how important childhood is to the author- events that have happened to the children in the book (or the adults when they were children) reverberate through the generations .

I really enjoyed the author's writing and was completely absorbed by the plot and satisified by the ending. My disappointment lay with the characters themselves who I just didn't feel I got to know well enough, and I'm not sure why. I didn't feel that I could picture any of them in my mind's eye. Although I felt sympathy for various characters as the book went on, I just didn't feel as emotionally invested in them as I felt I should have done.

Overall I did enjoy reading this book and am very grateful to the publisher and to netgalley for this reading copy, but in the end I didn't completely fall in love with it.

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 destined to be together, despite their respective families' best efforts. They grow up next to each other until a shocking incident separates them.
This novel explores the strength of families, desertion, mental illness and alcoholism. How the families come through that makes for a good read. Four stars.

Thank you to Penguin, Michael Joseph, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book to read for free for an honest review

The book is set in New York city and surrounding areas and spans a period of around 40 years from the 70’s onwards. It tells the story of two police colleagues who live next door to each other and how their children Kate and Peter form a bond which threatens to be broken by one horrific night’s events.
The story is one of families pulling together, through difficulties such as depression, alcoholism and mental illness The characters are complex and the story compelling, it had me hooked, to find out how their lives would progress and how the problems they had faced could be resolved. Having just visited New York, I really connected with the story and could visualize the areas described by the Author. I read this in two or three sittings as I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.