How different a story Romeo and Juliet would have been had the star-crossed lovers been able to text one another. Tess of the d’Urbervilles, too: had Tess used WhatsApp, there would have been no need for her letter to Angel Clare to go unnoticed since she’d have seen at a glance whether he’d read the crucial message and followed it up. In fact, any number of the great literary tragedies could have been averted by the use of modern technology.

This is worthy of mention because it is essential to the plot of Ask Again, Yes that the young lovers at its centre, Peter and Kate, should be separated by fate. The novel falls in line with the Hollywood premise that a satisfying story arc is one in