Buckeye by Patrick Ryan @patrickryannyc @patrickryannyc.bsky.social @michael.l.crouch @prhaudio @prhaudio.bsky.social #Buckeye

the setup…
It begins in the small town of Bonhomie, Ohio in the 1920s and the saga continues through the turbulent time of the 1960s and the Vietnam War era. Cal Jenkins was born with a leg deformity that defines and prevents him from serving his country in WWII. He marries Becky, the first woman he ever dated and who has the gift of being able to connect with the dead, something that becomes a wedge in their marriage. Margaret Salt was abandoned as a baby, left in a basket on the steps of an orphanage with a note from her mother. That history also defines her, one she keeps secret, leading her to marry Felix, a man who she doesn’t love and moves them to Bonhomie, a town where she struggles to connect. He joins the Navy, serving on a cargo ship in the Pacific that should have been a safe assignment…until it wasn’t. Cal and Margaret intersect in a highly charged moment for them both that ends in consequences that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

the heart of this story…
There’s a quiet eloquence and beauty to this story. It’s not constructed with lots of dramatic moments, more the natural events in ordinary lives driven by life’s challenges. It centers around Cal, Becky, Felix and Margaret, all more complicated than how they might appear to those around them. It’s their children that serendipitously connect the two families, further complicating the secret that haunts them. Felix is burdened by the weight of his own duplicity, one that has Margaret spiral out of control and compounds her inability to love. Cal and Becky drift apart from the weight of his betrayal and his disdain of her gift.

the narration…
Michael Crouch delivered the perfect pitch performance in his storytelling. He let the eloquence of the writing drive the tempo.

the bottom line…
I selected this book solely because of my history with other Read With Jenna book club picks and she nailed it again. The story adeptly captures not only the essence of the times from WWII through the Vietnam War but the effects on families and the writing is exquisite. I was completely immersed in the characters and the story, fully invested in their outcomes despite their flaws. I won’t ever forget them or this masterpiece of a story.

Book Info

• Release Date: September 2, 2025
• Narrator: Michael Crouch
• Audio Length: 15 hours, 44 minutes
• Publisher: Random House Audio

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