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Ask Me Again
- Author
- Clare Sestanovich
- Narrator
- Xe Sands, Luke Daniels
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Publish Date
- 23 January 2025
- Run Time
- 10 hours 24 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
One of The New Yorker's Best Books of the Year
'A finely drawn portrait of the kind of friendship we rarely see in contemporary fiction' - The Guardian
'Impressive and sophisticated' - The Daily Telegraph
How much knowledge do you need in order to know someone?
As her grandmother is dying, sixteen-year-old Eva wanders the halls of a hospital. There, she spots Jamie. Despite having little in common, from this chance-encounter stems a life-changing platonic love.
She is sixteen, living in middle-class Brooklyn; he is the same age, but from the super-rich of Upper Manhattan. She’s observant, cautious, eager to seem normal; he’s bold, mysterious, eccentric. Eva’s family is warm and welcoming, but Jamie avoids going home to his.
As Eva goes off to university and falls in and out of love, Jamie drops out and is drawn towards radical experiments in politics and religion. Their separate spheres seem to be spiralling away from each other, but it soon becomes clear that they are both circling the same question: how do you define yourself and your beliefs in a divided and unjust world?
With precision and immense wit, Ask Me Again is a journey of intimacy across time. A love story of sorts, this coming-of-age novel explores how relationships can define us, change us and point us towards futures we might not have imagined for ourselves.
A Finalist for The Center For Fiction First Novel Prize
‘Beautiful . . . Clare Sestanovich is a writer of disarming radiance’ – Garth Greenwell, author of Cleanness
‘A deeply philosophical novel, which surprises and delights at every turn’ – Jenny Offill, author of Weather
Critics Review
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Pulled along by the shimmering subtleties of Sestanovich’s prose, we track our boy and girl into adulthood . . . a finely drawn portrait of the kind of friendship we rarely see in contemporary fiction
Jonathan Lee, The Guardian
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Sestanovich’s allusive tone and incisive prose recall the best of Rooney
Michael Arditti, Spectator
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Ask Me Again is a beautifully observed and deeply philosophical novel, which surprises and delights at every turn
Jenny Offill, author of Weather
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Rigorous, intensely observed, and brimming with the sort of elusive revelations that form the heartbeat of a life, Sestanovich’s novel debut demonstrates a tremendous gift at rendering the texture of love, faith, and heartbreak with both subtlety and force. In her masterful hands, relationships condense, turn acute, and unfurl with symphonic grace across the individual arcs of characters that you can’t help but carry with you long afterward
Alexandra Kleeman, author of Something New Under the Sun
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Quietly revelatory . . . there is something of Sally Rooney in Ask Me Again’s creation of intimacy through curiosity and gentle interrogation. Although here, refreshingly, rather than centring on connection, the narrative propulsion is towards making peace with being alone . . . an assured coming-of-age novel asks if we can truly know anyone but ourselves
Miriam Balanescu, Financial Times
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This beautiful debut novel is wise about intellectual and erotic discovery, disenchantment and loneliness. It’s alert to the small moments of awkwardness and grace that make up the texture of common life; its quiet, tectonic power comes from an awareness of how easily common life can tilt toward catastrophe. Clare Sestanovich is a writer of disarming radiance
Garth Greenwell, author of Cleanness
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Sestanovich captivates with her distinctive characterizations . . . an intelligent exploration of lives in the making
Publishers Weekly
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Ask Me Again is both an impressive and sophisticated novel
Lucy Thynne, The Daily Telegraph
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Her first novel, about sex, success and transgression among millennial's like their author, is tightly written – another debut to be reckoned with
The Telegraph
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Details
- Author
- Clare Sestanovich
- Narrator
- Xe Sands, Luke Daniels
- Duration
- 10 hours 24 minutes
- Release Date
- 23 January 2025
- ISBN
- 9781529053616
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Pan Macmillan
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: politics / economics, Narrative theme: coming of age, Narrative theme: social issues / social problems, Narrative theme: identity / belonging, Narrative theme: love / relationships
Synopsis
One of The New Yorker's Best Books of the Year'A finely drawn portrait of the kind of friendship we rarely see in contemporary fiction' - The Guardian'Impressive and sophisticated' - The Daily Telegraph How much knowledge do you need in order to know someone?As her grandmother is dying, sixteen-year-old Eva wanders the halls of a hospital. There, she spots Jamie. Despite having little in common, from this chance-encounter stems a life-changing platonic love.She is sixteen, living in middle-class Brooklyn; he is the same age, but from the super-rich of Upper Manhattan. She’s observant, cautious, eager to seem normal; he’s bold, mysterious, eccentric. Eva’s family is warm and welcoming, but Jamie avoids going home to his.As Eva goes off to university and falls in and out of love, Jamie drops out and is drawn towards radical experiments in politics and religion. Their separate spheres seem to be spiralling away from each other, but it soon becomes clear that they are both circling the same question: how do you define yourself and your beliefs in a divided and unjust world?With precision and immense wit, Ask Me Again is a journey of intimacy across time. A love story of sorts, this coming-of-age novel explores how relationships can define us, change us and point us towards futures we might not have imagined for ourselves.A Finalist for The Center For Fiction First Novel Prize‘Beautiful . . . Clare Sestanovich is a writer of disarming radiance’ – Garth Greenwell, author of Cleanness‘A deeply philosophical novel, which surprises and delights at every turn’ – Jenny Offill, author of Weather
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