Buckeye

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 Heartfelt and at times harrowing, Buckeye is both an absorbing portrait of an American past and a sympathetic exploration of what continues to sustain us – and to plague us. There are no heroes or villains in Patrick Ryan's wonderful novel, only recognisably human creatures, each one of them drawn with refreshing honesty; each one flawed, noble, confused, passionate, lonely, loving, and, above all, real -- Alice McDermott, author of ABSOLUTION A glorious sweep of a novel, full of love and war and the perilous intimacies of small town life. It’s funny and tender, realistic and strange. Patrick Ryan has long been one of my favourite writers. I have a feeling that with this book he’s going to be everyone's favourite writer -- Ann Patchett, author of THE DUTCH HOUSE and TOM LAKE I love this novel with my entire heart. Patrick Ryan has created a world, and characters, that exist inside me now, and as a reader that is my deepest joy. Buckeye tells the story of two families across sixty years of American history; the novel is wise and heartbreaking and full of wonderful characters 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 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 laugh - and all of this in abundance -- Richard Russo, author of EMPIRE FALLS and the NORTH BATH trilogy A small-town novel of epic proportions, full of unforgettable characters and thorny human dilemmas. 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 THE LEFTOEVERS, ELECTION and TRACY FLICK CAN'T WIN Patrick Ryan’s Buckeye is a deeply compassionate book, expansive in scope, yet trained with extraordinary focus on the secrets that divide and bind us. Ryan brings to life two unexpectedly overlapping families in one small Ohio town, people driven by longing and bruised by loss. In this elegant and quietly bracing novel, Ryan tells a story I very much needed 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 I was swept up in the first few pages of this tender and richly told novel of marriage and family, connection and community ... A novel that has echoes of Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting. A monumental achievement * Bookseller *