The Children's Crusade - Hardcover

"Do our childhood experiences determine our destinies? In shimmering prose and with exceptional wisdom, Ann Packer examines the life of a California family, laying bare the relationships between brother and sister, parent and child, while at the same time revealing the ways in which the past casts both shadow and light on the present. The Children's Crusade is a provocative, dazzling novel from a world-class fiction writer."--Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train

Told in the most elegant prose... extraordinarily compassionate... A masterful portrait of indelible family bonds.--Joanne Wilkinson "Booklist (starred review) "

"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."--Lisa Shea "Elle "

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

"A flawless, compassionate portrayal... literary fiction at its finest."--Donna Bettencourt "Library Journal (starred review) "

"Packer is an expert American realist at every level, from the interior monologue to the bird's-eye view."--Boris Kachka "Vulture.com "

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

"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 Winik "Newsday "

"As the details accumulate, as each character's story builds, Packer's writing gains depth and power. By the end, all the separate threads weave a complex, textured tapestry. What a gift to the reader, who will certainly recognize and identify with the novel's universal themes of those knotted ties that bind, the varied meanings of home, and, in particular, the many ways the child is father to the man."--Mameve Medwed "The Boston Globe "

"Graceful, poignant... With her warm, nuanced portrayal of a family and its foibles, Packer delivers."--Hannah Sampson "Miami Herald "

Ann Packer is the acclaimed author of two collections of short fiction, Swim Back to Me and Mendocino and Other Stories, and two bestselling novels, Songs Without Words and The Dive from Clausen's Pier, which received the Kate Chopin Literary Award, among many other prizes and honors. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and in the O. Henry Prize Stories anthologies, and her novels have been published around the world. She lives in San Carlos, California.