Robin Dormer is looking for expanded career opportunities when she accepts a job as Assistant for Special Projects for Daniel Fenwick, the deputy director of the Camden State Hospital. Through a period of growth, Robin copes with her new job at the mental-health facility in her Midwestern college town, a new romantic relationship, and a new understanding of her place in the world. Meanwhile, her sister Jennie, settled into marriage and motherhood, also begins to see herself and her family differently. She starts reading a journal written by Anna Fielding, an English clergyman's wife during the nineteenth century. The volumes, dating from 1853 to 1888, show how women's lives and relationships have changed, and have stayed the same, from generation to generation. Frequently Asked Questions blends Anne Tyler and Anthony Trollope, modern women and Victorian ladies, to offer an absorbing story about the choices we face as we navigate social life and relationships.