Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

STAFF REVIEW

Moving from the city to small town America in the mid 1930’s, newlyweds Margaret & Felix are trying to find their feet in marriage – who am I, who are we, how do we make this love thing work.

Cal & Becky are born & bred small towners & trying to navigate the same but with a dose of one overbearing & another slightly crazed father in the mix. Becky has always had a special talent & according to her parents needs a special someone who believes in her unique abilities.

Patrick Ryan tenderly expresses the nuances of love & family; of trying to reinvent yourself in the face of a less than perfect upbringing or the traumas of war, to be a good parent, a good husband, a good wife – of honesty & denial, of turning up & of retreating, of introspection, friendship & pain. Spanning pre Second World War to post Vietnam America. This story is a knockout, it has it all & I devoured it.

Reviewed by Jacq

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‘I’ve been yearning for a novel that connects the American generations who dealt with our two Wars – one of Omaha Beach, the other of the Ia Drang Valley. Buckeye is that book, and it soars’ TOM HANKS

‘Funny and tender … Patrick Ryan has long been one of my favourite writers’ ANN PATCHETT

‘I love this novel with my entire heart … Wise and heartbreaking’ ANN NAPOLITANO

May, 1945. As news of the Allied victory in Europe reaches the small town of Bonhomie, Ohio, a woman named Margaret Salt walks into a hardware store and asks the man behind the counter, Cal Jenkins, for a radio. What happens next will change both of their lives forever.

While the country reconstructs in the post-war boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie – and nothing can remain hidden in a small town. The consequences of that long-ago encounter will intertwine the fates of two families, rippling through the next generation and compelling them to re-examine who they thought they were and what the future might hold.

Full of compassion, humour and charm, Buckeye is a dazzling portrait of the human spirit by way of one unforgettable community; the twisted roads we take to achieve forgiveness and redemption; and above all a universal longing for love and connection.

Propelled by an irresistible cast of characters, Buckeye is a warm, funny and emotionally affecting novel about two families living in one small town, bound together by secrets that will not stay buried

About the Author:

Patrick Ryan’s short story collection The Dream Life of Astronauts was named one of the Best Books of the Year by the St. Louis Times-Dispatch, LitHub, Refinery 29 and Electric Literature, and was longlisted for The Story Prize. His debut collection of linked short stories, Send Me, was chosen for Barnes & Noble’s Discover New Writers program. His work has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, the anthology Tales of Two Cities, and elsewhere. The former associate editor of Granta, he is the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine One Story. He lives in New York City.

patrickryanbooks.com

Instagram: @patrickryannyc

02 Sep 2025

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan ISBN 9781526689320