Children's Crusade (Packer)

Book Reviews
Psychologically acute... provocative... Packer shows how unhappiness and happiness, selfishness and kindness, ricochet in complicated ways through relationships. This is a novel with something to teach about forgiving the people we love.
Marion Wink - New York Newsday


A more ambitious work that succeeds beautifully. The beauty comes from the rich characterizations that make each of the Blairs spring to life. We do not like them all equally, but ultimately we come to know them equally.... Packer’s dissection of domestic life reminds me of her elders in the field Anne Tyler and Louise Erdrich. But I’ve rarely read a novel so astute about the jumble of love and respect, rivalry and envy, empathy and scorn that makes up family dynamics. Packer is also a superb storyteller. The Children’s Crusade is as much plot-driven as character-driven. From its opening pages, the book seduces us into a world far from the present era, glides through ensuing decades, and finally drops us off in the 21st century.
Dan Cryer - San Francisco Chronicle


First-rate storytelling... Few writers are as emotionally astute at conveying subtle family ties as Packer.
Jane Ciabbattari - BBC.com


An absorbing novel which celebrates family even as it catalogs its damages.
People


A tour de force family drama… An engrossing saga… Packer brilliantly constructs the siblings’ narratives with both an appealing lightness and an arresting gravitas… Packer’s golden touch makes us care deeply for this memorable tribe.
Elle - Lisa Shea


An artful portrait of a California family.
Elissa Schappell - Vanity Fair


[W]ell-crafted family saga.... [Family members'] stories unfold through distinctive narrative styles...suited to the characters.... Packer is an accomplished storyteller whose characters are as real as those you might find around your dinner table. Readers will be taken with this vibrant novel.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) [A]n engrossing story of the Blair family, their secrets, wounds, and struggles for second chances....  [A] flawless, compassionate portrayal of each family member at both their best and worst and shows what a strong hold the past has on the present. Literary fiction at its finest. —Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Palisade, CO
Library Journal


Told in the most elegant prose... extraordinarily compassionate... A masterful portrait of indelible family bonds. —Joanne Wilkson
Booklist


(Starred review.) Packer is an expert at complicated relationships; she likes to show more than two sides to every story. Who's responsible for the fracturing of the Blair family?... When you read Packer, you'll know you're in the hands of a writer who knows what she's doing. A marvelously absorbing novel.
Kirkus Reviews