Mary Beth Keane New York Times Bestselling Author of The Half Moon and Ask Again, Yes

Praise for Whale Harbor

“Whale Harbor is a very special book, the kind that comes along rarely. It is epic in scope yet, at the same time, so intimate and immersive I could scarcely catch my breath as I read. A meditation on what it means to be a family with all the secret heartaches and disappointments, the losses, and above all, the love that binds them together. Truly magnificent.”
—Clare Leslie Hall, author of Broken Country

“I picked up Whale Harbor and couldn’t stop reading. The gang of brothers, the father, the daughter, the whole family, Ireland, everything—it’s a great story, and beautifully written.”
—Roddy Doyle

“Tender, immersive and exquisitely written, Whale Harbor is the story of a family that seems borne out of both the land and the sea—one that aches with regret and thrums with longing. Mary Beth Keane finds the quiet amongst the bustle of eleven brothers, to pore over their shared mythology and explore the loss, remorse, and fraternal bonds that follow each far into adulthood. I felt I knew the whole cast of characters intimately, as well as the landscapes—the Joyces’ Connemara, Montana, and New York will remain etched in my mind. I missed this book whenever I wasn’t reading it. Mary Beth Keane is one of my favorite storytellers and here she’s at her finest. I adored it.”
—Florence Knapp, author of The Names

“No one writes about the long arc of family—its loyalties, betrayals, and returns—like Mary Beth Keane. Whale Harbor is an expansive, beautiful novel about how time can reshape love and kinship in ways we’d never anticipate, and a reminder that every family contains a world.”
—Kathy Wang, author of The Satisfaction Café

“Whale Harbor is an exquisite family epic. I was completely invested in the fates of all the Joyce brothers. The places and people were so expertly drawn, I felt like I walked beside them the whole way.”
—Claire Lynch, author of A Family Matter

Praise for The Half Moon

“Absorbing . . . it’s such a pleasure to sink into Keane’s quietly luminous prose . . . She manages to find the extraordinary grace in our achingly ordinary world.”
—Janice Y.K. Lee, The New York Times Book Review

“Poignant . . . class differences underlie personal strife as the couple struggles with adultery, fertility and civility.”
—Bethanne Patrick, The Los Angeles Times

“Deft, satisfying. . . . Keane writes in a realist vein–the vivid, domesticated world of Anne Tyler, of William Trevor, of Elizabeth Strout—but her insights into matters of the heart, longing and restlessness especially, have astonishing delicacy.”
—Vogue, Most Anticipated Books of 2023

Praise for Ask Again, Yes

“One of the most unpretentiously profound books I’ve read in a long time… Keane writes with deep familiarity and precision about the lives of this particular generation… As a writer, Keane reminds me a lot of Ann Patchett: Both have the magical ability to seem to be telling ‘only’ a closely-observed domestic tale that transforms into something else deep and, yes, universal. In Keane’s case, that ‘something else’ is a story about forgiveness and acceptance… modestly magnificent.”
—Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air

“A profound story… Keane’s gracefully restrained prose gives her characters dignity… shows how difficult forgiveness can be—and how it amounts to a kind of hard-won grace.”
—Vogue

“I devoured this astonishing tale of two families linked by chance, love, and tragedy. Mary Beth Keane gives us characters so complex and alive that I find myself still thinking of them days after turning the final page. A must-read.”
—J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Saints for All Occasions

“Mary Beth Keane takes on one of the most difficult problems in fiction—how to write about human decency. In Ask Again, Yes, Keane creates a layered emotional truth that makes a compelling case for compassion over blame, understanding over grudge, and the resilience of hearts that can accept the contradictions of love.”
—Louise Erdrich, author of The Round House

“Ask Again, Yes is a powerful and moving novel of family, trauma, and the defining moments in people’s lives. Mary Beth Keane is a writer of extraordinary depth, feeling and wit. Readers will love this book, as I did.”
—Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion

“Mary Beth Keane looks past the veneer that covers ordinary moments and into the very heart of real life. There’s a Tolstoyan gravity, insight, and moral heft in these pages, and Keane’s ability to plumb the depths of authentic feeling while avoiding sentimentality leaves one shaking one’s head in frank admiration. This wonderful book is so many things: a gripping family drama; a sensitive meditation on mental illness; a referendum on the power and cost of loyalty; a ripping yarn that takes us down into the depths and back up; in short, a triumph.”
—Matthew Thomas, author of We Are Not Ourselves

“Mary Beth Keane is at the height of her powers in this novel about the sacrifices we make when we choose to build a life with someone. In Ask Again Yes, Keane tells a story about the fragility of happiness, the violence lurking beneath everyday life, and, ultimately, the power of love. If you’ve ever loved someone beyond reason, you will love this wise, tender, and beautiful book.”
—Eleanor Henderson, author of Ten Thousand Saints