Buckeye

New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2025

A Read With Jenna Book Club Pick September 2025

One town. Two families. A secret that changes everything.

‘Poignant, powerful’ Independent

‘Omniscient, sweeping, almost defiantly sentimental’ New York Times

‘It’s not just a great Midwestern novel, it’s a great novel, period’ Financial Times

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— but 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.

‘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