Description:
One town. Two families. A secret that changes everything. 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.
Brief description:
Patrick Ryan is the author of two works, including the novel Buckeye, which was a finalist for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize and was named a Best Book of the Year by six major American media. He also wrote the story collection The Dream Life of Astronauts, longlisted for the Story Prize and named one of the Best Books of the Year by the St. Louis Times-Dispatch, Literary Hub, Refinery29, and Electric Literature. 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.
Review Quotes:
"Filled with wit and emotion...this is a stirring paean to the joys and sorrows of family."
-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"