It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Ask Again, Yes

Ask Again, Yes

The gripping, emotional and life-affirming New York Times bestseller

Summary

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND RADIO 2 SUMMER BOOK CLUB PICK

'The new Little Fires Everywhere . . . The perfect summer read'
STYLIST
'Stunning! An absolutely brilliant, gorgeously-written novel. A must-read for our time' LISA TADDEO
'Immersive and deeply moving' ANNA HOPE
'I absolutely adored it' LIANE MORIARTY

*Features an extract from Mary Beth Keane's new novel The Half Moon!*
_____________

Two ordinary families. One life-changing day . . .

When the Gleesons and the Stanhopes become 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 a tragedy that will engulf them all.

A tragedy whose true origins only become clear many years later . . .

When everything has fallen apart, can their children's love pull it back together again?

_____________

A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN PRIMA, VOGUE, PEOPLE, ELLE AND NPR

'It's an absolute stunner, an ode to family and forgiveness that has been crafted with compassion and insight' Sara Collins, bestselling author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton

'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

**THE HALF MOON, the new novel by Mary Beth Keane, is available to pre-order now!**

Reviews

  • 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

About the author

Mary Beth Keane

Mary Beth Keane attended Barnard College and the University of Virginia, where she received an MFA. She was awarded a John S. Guggenheim fellowship for fiction writing, and has received citations from the National Book Foundation, PEN America, and the Hemingway Society. Born in the Bronx to parents from the west of Ireland, she currently lives in New York, with her husband and their two sons. She is the author of The Walking People, Fever, and most recently, Ask Again, Yes, which spent eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. To date, translation rights to Ask Again, Yes have sold in twenty-two languages. The Half Moon is her fourth novel.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more