Buckeye: One town. Two families. A secret that changes everything
Paperback Published on: 01/09/2026
Price: £10.99
Bookseller Reviews
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A keen (Buck)eye for a great read!
What can I say about Buckeye? Well, hopefully enough to convince you to pick it up after reading this review.
In small town Bonhomie two people are draw... READ MORE
A deeply affecting read
This is a FANTASTIC book! I’ll be stunned if anything I read tops this, this year. Historical fiction, character driven and emotionally affecting. I held b... READ MORE
A splendidly epic tale
The first few pages of this felt a little bit slow, but then suddenly Cal, the hardware shop, and 1940s small town America totally captured me! I loved the... READ MORE
Sweeping emotion
I shed a tear at the end of this wonderful book. This is a sweeping epic tale, in the manner of The Great Circle, covering the decades of the mid-twentieth... READ MORE
A very enjoyable read from a skilled writer.
This is a classic American novel in the tradition of William Maxwell, John Williams and John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany."
We meet Cal Jenkins in ... READ MORE
The most precious of novels
Novels that sprawl across a lifetime require such a tender touch, and Buckeye delivers. It is gentle, but quietly confident. It is funny, but incredibly sa... READ MORE
Stunning
This novel just pulls you in. A fabulously written character driven novel set in small town America from the 1940s-70s.
Beautiful and Epic
This was a beautifully written, sweeping epic following the lives of four people in small town Bonhomie across decades. I fell in love with all the charact... READ MORE
Pitch perfect: just brilliant!
This is a wonderful novel that picks you up gently, takes you through wars, personal struggles and social upheavals, and deposits you at the end with the f... READ MORE
Engrossing
A truly heartwrenching novel covering the time from the 2nd world war and the end of the Vietnam 1. Following two families whose lives are intertwined. It'... READ MORE
Profoundly human
What a gorgeous story- each character felt so entirely indvidual, and incredibly fleshed out without any weighty info-dumping. What I loved the most was th... READ MORE
Synopsis
'[A] luminous and tender 20th-century saga of wounded souls and small-town secrets' GUARDIAN
‘A thing of wonder’ CHRIS WHITAKER
'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 la Drang Valley. Buckeye is that book, and it soars' TOM HANKS
__________
THE BIG-HEARTED BESTSELLING PHENOMENON THAT READERS ARE CALLING THEIR BOOK OF THE YEAR
Cal Jenkins, wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, aspires to live a quiet, honest life in Bonhomie, Ohio. His wife Becky – intuitive, whimsical – senses danger long before she understands its shape. Across town, Margaret Salt carries secrets she’s spent a lifetime burying, while her husband Felix tries desperately to be the man the world insists he must be.
Everything changes on V-E Day, when a single, stolen moment binds all four of them together. As wartime gives way to an uneasy peace, the consequences of that day ripple forward, pulling the next generation into its undertow.
But in a small town where nothing stays hidden, how long can the truth stay buried?
__________
'A glorious sweep of a novel' ANN PATCHETT
‘Written in the key of Dickens … it’s not just a great Midwestern novel, it’s a great novel, period’ FINANCIAL TIMES
'A poignant, powerful exploration of small-town America’ INDEPENDENT, BOOK OF THE MONTH
Publisher information
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- ISBN: 9781526689276
- Number of pages: 480
- Dimensions: 196 x 132 x 42 mm
- Weight: 331g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allA wonderful saga. Not to be missed!
What a wonderful, wonderful book! I'm sat here with tears in my eyes having just lived vicariously through the lives of Cal, Becky, Felix and Margaret and ... READ MORE
A truly wonderful novel - highly recommended . Welcome to Bonhomie.
“ The things that we love tell us what we are.”
“ Nothing is quite as maddening as being angry at people who lovingly understand your anger.”
Welcome... READ MORE
An awesome read
Many thanks to Net Galley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for an ARC Of this fabulous book in exchange for a review.
What a read, was hooked from page one,... READ MORE
Pacy and absorbing
I love a gnarly family saga and this is that in spades. Great characters and a real sense of them as living people. This starts out looking at the lives of... READ MORE
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
A slow-paced masterpiece focusing on the lives of two families and how their lives entwine after a long buried secret comes to light and affects each membe... READ MORE
American Family Drama with great characters
A bit difficult to review this without giving too much of the plot away . In a fictional American town of Bonhomie this story works on the interaction betw... READ MORE
A hugely enjoyable American novel
Big recommend! When my two favourite Anns (Patchett and Napolitano) tell me something's a great read, I listen.
I absolutely loved reading this sweepin... READ MORE
Enjoyable read
Written in a style that encapsulates the USA of the 30s and onwards. The story follows the lives of two couples, their marriages, children and their inters... READ MORE
A very involving read
A rather sad.story of two marriages in America from just before World War Two through to The Vietnam War. The families become interwoven mainly through lac... READ MORE
A tender small town tale of connection and belonging
A superbly crafted character driven novel which captures the quiet power of connection and how one small act can echo out across the years. Peopled by the ... READ MORE
3.5/5 from me
I was intrigued by the premise of Buckeye, although I hadn’t heard of Patrick Ryan before, so I decided to give it a try. Overall, I enjoyed the read, thou... READ MORE
Fantastic Book!
I absolutely loved this book! It was so readable that I never once felt my attention wander. The words just flowed for me. I really liked the way Cal and... READ MORE
A brilliant book
Buckeye is a really good story—classic all-American fiction that reminded me a lot of Anne Tyler’s work.
Set in a small Ohio town just after WWII, it k... READ MORE
Americans in conflicts, globally and in relationships; small town Ohio and its community.
At the centre of this utterly absorbing and tender book, set in Bonhomie, small town Ohio, and steeped in the experience of both the major wars of the twen... READ MORE
Beautifully written and thought-provoking
A beautiful, unusual writing style which swept me along through the years and lives of the ordinary, flawed characters, keeping me enthralled and committed... READ MORE
An epic novel
Patrick Ryan is an award winning short story writer, so it's a surprise to see him tackle a lengthy novel about two couples across multiple decades and tak... READ MORE
enthralling reading
4 intertwined characters, all with complex issues, in a small American town pre and post WW2. The reader is left guessing how their story will end, enthral... READ MORE
Small town living brought to life
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Buckeye by Patrick Ryan This novel quietly drew me in and didn’t let go. Set across sixty years in a small Ohio town,... READ MORE
Five stars!
Buckeye is a sweeping yet intimate family saga set in the small Ohio town of Bonhomie, beginning in the aftermath of the Second World War and spanning deca... READ MORE
A story of families bound by war and loss. Excellent historical fiction.
Buckeye is a sweeping novel about two families whose lives become deeply intertwined in a small Ohio town before, during, and after WWII and the Vietnam Wa... READ MORE
An ok read
I was sent an advance proof copy of Buckeye by Patrick Ryan to read and review by NetGalley. This is a novel full of American history and family relations... READ MORE
Wonderful heartwarming all-America saga
A whole wonderful saga of two families in the post Second World War American MidWest. Cal and Becky, Margaret and Felix, and their sons Skip and Buckeye, a... READ MORE
Loved this book!
I absolutely loved this book! It was so readable that I never once felt my attention wander. The words just flowed for me. I really liked the way Cal and... READ MORE
What a great book! So immersive, Brilliant characters, brilliant story.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.
The blurb does not do this book justice. It is one of those books where all the ... READ MORE
Love, grief and belonging
The history, particularly through the wars, of the twentieth century comes into focus through the lives of two couples and their families, Cal and Becky Je... READ MORE
Gentle and poignant.
I enjoyed this family saga set in a small town in Ohio. Covering the years between the Second World War and the end of the Vietnam War we follow the lives ... READ MORE
'Ryan’s impressive powerful novel kept me engrossed throughout'
Acclaimed short story writer Patrick Ryan’s debut novel follows two families, linked by a devastating secret, over forty decades beginning in the 1940s.
C... READ MORE
Beautiful and compelling
An enthralling and moving study of two families from the interwar years to the tailend of the Vietnam war. Whilst it takes a wee while to get going, I was... READ MORE
A great character driven novel
Buckeye is a very well written character driven novel spanning six decades in the lives of the main characters, Cal and Becky and Felix and Margaret.
Ca... READ MORE
Great Story!
Buckeye is a wonderful, sweeping, family saga. This is such an absorbing story about two Ohio families forever linked by a chance event. The written is exq... READ MORE
A Beautiful Novel
All the characters in ‘Buckeye’, by Patrick Ryan, feel like they are different. Margaret was abandoned by her mother at an orphanage, Cal has one leg short... READ MORE
Good book club read
Spanning 40+ years in small town America, we meet some memorable and likeable characters, who leave us caring about what happens to them.
Starting at t... READ MORE
Beautifully written character-driven story
This is a beautifully written , slow-paced, character-driven story focusing on the lives of two families in Ohio. The story is set across 40 years, from WW... READ MORE
Knocked Sideways
I love novels that dive into family entanglements, and Buckeye does this with depth and heart. Set in post-war America, it unravels how brief moments of pa... READ MORE
A 5 star Tour De Force
And absolute masterpiece - loved every page!
Whilst the scope of this novel is huge and sweeping, covering multiple generations and midwestern lifetimes, it is an incredibly intimate read. It’s not of... READ MORE
I loved it!
This piece of historical fiction takes place in a small town in the mid west and spans between 1920's and 1976. It is a bit of an epic saga about two famil... READ MORE
Epic saga of two families
This book isn't for the fainthearted, it is a long, although beautifully written, saga of two families stretching four decades, the timeline is interesting... READ MORE
A touching gem of a novel about small town America
A stunning achievement, Buckeye is easily one of the most emotional and touching books I have read this year. As I wipe away my tears, I am left with a fee... READ MORE
Love, Loss, and Small Town Li
This book feels like watching four lives unfold across decades — small choices, hidden secrets, and the echoes of war shaping everything. Set in a small Oh... READ MORE
A harrowing story of secrets lies deceit and abandonments in 20 century America
An abandoned baby in a basket struggles with orphanages and foster homes as she moves into maturity leaving her struggling with huge issues regarding mater... READ MORE