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Buckeye

A Novel

Author Patrick Ryan
Hardcover
$30.00 US
| $39.99 CAN
Random House Group | Random House
On sale Sep 02, 2025 | 464 Pages | 9780593595039
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“A small-town novel of epic proportions” (Tom Perrotta), this captivating story weaves the intimate lives of two midwestern families across generations, from World War II to the late twentieth century.

In Bonhomie, Ohio, a stolen moment of passion, sparked in the exuberant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, binds Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, to Margaret Salt, a woman trying to obscure her past. Cal’s wife, Becky, has a spiritual gift: She is a seer who can conjure the dead, helping families connect with those they’ve lost. Margaret’s husband, Felix, is serving on a Navy cargo ship, out of harm’s way—until a telegram suggests that the unthinkable might have happened.

Later, as the country reconstructs in the postwar boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie—but nothing stays buried forever in a small town. Against the backdrop of some of the most transformative decades in modern America, the consequences of that long-ago encounter ripple through the next generation of both families, compelling them to reexamine who they thought they were and what the future might hold.

Sweeping yet intimate, rich with piercing observation and the warmth that comes from profound understanding of the human spirit, Buckeye captures the universal longing for love and for goodness.
“Buckeye offers just about everything I look for in a great story: a vivid setting, historical sweep, rich characters who break your heart even as they make you laughand all of this in abundance.”—Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and the North Bath trilogy

“Heartfelt and at times harrowing, Buckeye is both an absorbing portrait of an American past and a sympathetic exploration of what continues to sustain usand to plague us. There are no heroes or villains, only recognizably human creatures . . . each one flawed, noble, confused, passionate, lonely, loving, and, above all, real.”—Alice McDermott, author of Absolution

“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

“Patrick Ryan conjures a vanished America with uncanny skill and writes with deep insight and lyrical intelligence about war and adultery, the mysteries of sexuality and family life, and the strange paths we have to travel to forgive—or at least begin to understand—the people who’ve hurt us the most. This is a novel to settle in with, a world unto itself.”—Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children

“A deeply compassionate book . . . Patrick Ryan tells a story we very much need right now: how forgiveness might creep up—despite everything—over time, tender and elusive and ever-complex. I was taken in by this book, utterly transported.”—Emily Fridlund, author of History of Wolves

“Patrick Ryan has created a world, and characters, that exist inside me now, and as a reader that is my deepest joy. Buckeye is wise and heartbreaking and full of individuals who struggle across decades—as we all do—to live as their whole selves. I could not recommend this book more highly.”—Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful

“Full of love and war and the perilous intimacies of smalltown life, Buckeye is funny and tender, realistic and strange. Patrick Ryan has long been one of my favorite writers. I have a feeling that with this book he’s going to be everyone's favorite writer.”—Ann Patchett
© Fred Blair
Patrick Ryan is the author of the novel Buckeye. He is also the author of the story collections The Dream Life of Astronauts (named one of the Best Books of the Year by the St. Louis Times-Dispatch, LitHub, Refinery 29, and Electric Literature, and longlisted for The Story Prize) and Send Me. 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 of the literary magazine One Story and lives in New York City. View titles by Patrick Ryan

About

“A small-town novel of epic proportions” (Tom Perrotta), this captivating story weaves the intimate lives of two midwestern families across generations, from World War II to the late twentieth century.

In Bonhomie, Ohio, a stolen moment of passion, sparked in the exuberant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, binds Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, to Margaret Salt, a woman trying to obscure her past. Cal’s wife, Becky, has a spiritual gift: She is a seer who can conjure the dead, helping families connect with those they’ve lost. Margaret’s husband, Felix, is serving on a Navy cargo ship, out of harm’s way—until a telegram suggests that the unthinkable might have happened.

Later, as the country reconstructs in the postwar boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie—but nothing stays buried forever in a small town. Against the backdrop of some of the most transformative decades in modern America, the consequences of that long-ago encounter ripple through the next generation of both families, compelling them to reexamine who they thought they were and what the future might hold.

Sweeping yet intimate, rich with piercing observation and the warmth that comes from profound understanding of the human spirit, Buckeye captures the universal longing for love and for goodness.

Reviews

“Buckeye offers just about everything I look for in a great story: a vivid setting, historical sweep, rich characters who break your heart even as they make you laughand all of this in abundance.”—Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and the North Bath trilogy

“Heartfelt and at times harrowing, Buckeye is both an absorbing portrait of an American past and a sympathetic exploration of what continues to sustain usand to plague us. There are no heroes or villains, only recognizably human creatures . . . each one flawed, noble, confused, passionate, lonely, loving, and, above all, real.”—Alice McDermott, author of Absolution

“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

“Patrick Ryan conjures a vanished America with uncanny skill and writes with deep insight and lyrical intelligence about war and adultery, the mysteries of sexuality and family life, and the strange paths we have to travel to forgive—or at least begin to understand—the people who’ve hurt us the most. This is a novel to settle in with, a world unto itself.”—Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children

“A deeply compassionate book . . . Patrick Ryan tells a story we very much need right now: how forgiveness might creep up—despite everything—over time, tender and elusive and ever-complex. I was taken in by this book, utterly transported.”—Emily Fridlund, author of History of Wolves

“Patrick Ryan has created a world, and characters, that exist inside me now, and as a reader that is my deepest joy. Buckeye is wise and heartbreaking and full of individuals who struggle across decades—as we all do—to live as their whole selves. I could not recommend this book more highly.”—Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful

“Full of love and war and the perilous intimacies of smalltown life, Buckeye is funny and tender, realistic and strange. Patrick Ryan has long been one of my favorite writers. I have a feeling that with this book he’s going to be everyone's favorite writer.”—Ann Patchett

Author

© Fred Blair
Patrick Ryan is the author of the novel Buckeye. He is also the author of the story collections The Dream Life of Astronauts (named one of the Best Books of the Year by the St. Louis Times-Dispatch, LitHub, Refinery 29, and Electric Literature, and longlisted for The Story Prize) and Send Me. 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 of the literary magazine One Story and lives in New York City. View titles by Patrick Ryan

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