The Children's Crusade
Ann Packer, 2015
448 pp.

Book Review by Molly Lundquist
June, 2015
Ann Packer's gorgeous new novel begins with a family creation myth—a giant live oak tree on three acres of land in California. That tree, reminiscent of the wych elm in E.M. Forster's Howards End, is what roots the future Blair family to place and one another.

It is after the Korean War when Bill Blair, a young doctor, meanders down a country road. He finds himself in a woodland clearing where a "majestic oak tree stood guard"—"the most splendid tree he'd ever seen." Falling under its spell, Blair decides to purchase the property then and there.

When he takes his fiance to see the place, however, somehow "the land had changed. It no longer seemed quite so splendid"—an ill omen if ever there was one. Years after Bill and Penny marry—and give birth to four children—the omen makes itself felt: Penny has withdrawn emotionally from family life, leaving the children to care for one another.

Their mother's abandonment seems to have left an indelible mark on each of the Blair siblings. Thus, the question posed in the novel—what makes us who we are? Do we emerge from the womb with our identities intact, or does upbringing determine who we become? Packer, never directly answers the question, probably because, as so poignantly evident in her novel, there is no pat answer.

Each chapter takes place in a different year and is told by a different sibling as they move from childhood into adulthood. The oldest three have stayed close to home: Robert, a driven, angry doctor; Rebecca, a career obsessed psychiatrist; and Ryan, a gentle and much loved teacher. Notice the three Rs at the beginning of each name...because the fourth child, the outlier, is James with a J.

James, a hellion from the get-go, seems to have suffered the most from his mother's withdrawal. He has become a drifter—unmarried, unsettled and alienated. It's James who drives the plot. When the book opens, he has returned home and is stirring things up.

The Children's Crusade is so rich in character that you find yourself sympathizing with each sibling in turn. Even Penny, who comes close to filling the role of villain, gains our sympathy to some extent, especially by the end. Packer is an extraordinarily gifted writer and her talents are on full display in this long, winding, but deeply satisfying book.

See our Reading Guide for The Children's Crusade.