Last updated on October 6, 2020
Ask Again, Yes is a novel by Mary Beth Keane which explores the complicated relationships between two generations of two families.
If you’re looking for full details of the story, including how it ends, visit this post.
Two Neighborhood Families
Brian Stanhope and Francis Gleeson worked together as new policemen. They were partners right out of the academy for six weeks. Brian was seeing Anne while Francis was dating Lena. Eventually both couples got married.
When Lena and Francis moved to the suburbs, Lena was disappointed. She hoped to live somewhere more exciting, and was worried that she would be isolated. Francis encouraged her to talk to the neighbors. When their closes neighbor moved, that house stayed vacant for a while before Anne and Brian moved in. Although the two families lived right next door to each other, they were not close, because Anne prefered it that way.
Lena and Francis have three children while Anne and Brian have one. The last Gleeson child is the same age and in the same class as the last Stanhope child. The adults may not be close, but there is one child in each family that has bonded with the other. They are close friends, and no one can keep them apart.
In this story, we follow the actions of the parents and of Kate and Peter. We see how choices made in one generation can carry across to another, in both directions.
Final Verdict
This is a Romeo and Juliet style story. In Ask Again, Yes, one family member does irreparable damage to a member of the other family, Can the love of the two youngest family members persist? When they are torn apart, will they find their way back to each other.
This is a beautiful story of family, mental illness, health, love, forgiveness. How are bonds between people created, and what causes them to strengthen or break apart? I’m a bit incredulous about some of the events in this book, for example the choice of babysitter for the children, that would have been a difficult choice to make.
Ask Again, Yes offers many great points for discussion. I give it 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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