Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

 Patrick Ryan's novel follows two families in Ohio from World War II for several decades.  The Salts are Margaret and Felix.  He is serving on a supply transport ship while Margaret waits at home for her.  Margaret grew up in an orphanage and thought her marriage would mean a family for her.  Felix is handsome and has a professional job and she can hardly believe it when he proposes.  But there is something wrong with the marriage.  Sex is rare and doesn't satisfy her while Felix is one of the strong but silent types.  What Margaret feels mostly in her marriage is lonely.

The Jenkins family is Cal, Becky and their young son.  Cal can't serve as he was born with one leg shorter than the other.  Becky is a spiritualist who gets messages from those who have passed on, much to Cal's embarrassment.  They were each other's first love and their marriage is supported by her parents with Cal working in her father's hardware store as a manager.

The two families are intertwined forever when Cal and Margaret have an affair shortly before the end of the war.  Margaret becomes pregnant the week Felix is coming home and while she isn't sure who is her son's father, as the years go by she more sure that it's Cal rather than Felix.  

This novel has received a lot of buzz.  It is a Read With Jenna pick and was an immediate bestseller.  The story of these two families over the decades draws the reader in and the two families end up being close despite the awkwardness of their shared son and the effect it has on the marriages.  Margaret is the least well defined and we hear little from her as the years go by.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction and those who enjoy epic sagas that cover lifetimes.