Patrick Ryan

Fiction 2025 | 464 pages

Cal and Becky Jenkins and Felix and Margaret Salt, along with their sons Skip and Tom, tell a profound story from the 1940s through the late 20th century.  Richly written, with extraordinary character development, we follow these families against a backdrop of WWII and the Vietnam War.  Home is the small town of Bonhomie Ohio.  

There are themes of love loss, abandonment, death, grief, happiness, friendship, betrayal, loyalty.  An affair between Cal Jenkins and Margaret Salt during WWII binds their families together with consequences that unfold over decades.  The characters are complex and multi-dimensional.  Take for example Cal, who is unable to serve in the war due to a disability, and his wife Becky, who is a seer who can communicate with the dead.  Felix enlists in the Navy and really has no idea what to do with his attraction to men, and not to his wife.  Margaret doesn’t ever warm up to motherhood and eventually abandons them all, adding greater complexity to the interpersonal relationships.

Someone described this book as slow-paced.  I don’t think that is true, though I did find myself wanting to savor it, rather than rush through.

I recommend Buckeye, no hesitation!

April 2026