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The Children’s Crusade
- Author
- Ann Packer
- Narrator
- various
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 29 January 2026
- Run Time
- 13 hours 15 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
‘A tour de force family drama’ ELLE
‘Bursting with poignancy’ NEW YORKER
‘Tender, absorbing’ CATHERINE NEWMAN
‘First-rate storytelling’ BBC
‘A riveting novel about how family molds us – for good and ill – and the grace that comes with forgiveness’ PEOPLE MAGAZINE
Bill Blair finds the land by accident, three wooded acres in a rustic community south of San Francisco. The year is 1954, long before anyone will call this area Silicon Valley. It is here that he will fall in love with Penny Greenway, build a home and raise a perfect family.
Decades later, the lives of the three oldest Blair children are upended by the return of their younger brother, James – the wayward son – whose sudden presence forces to light the siblings' past rivalries and grievances, and sets off a struggle over the family's future.
From New York Times bestselling author, Ann Packer, The Children's Crusade explores the secrets, desires and heartbreaks of one Californian family over the course of five decades.
**Some Bright Nowhere, the latest novel from Ann Packer is available now**
‘This is a novel with something to teach about forgiving the people we love’ NEWSDAY
‘Superb … 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’ SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
‘A beautiful novel that will stay with me’ ABRAHAM VERGHESE
Critics Review
-
‘Packer’s golden touch makes us care that much more deeply for this memorable tribe’ Elle
‘Psychologically astute … this is a novel with something to teach about forgiving the people we love’ Newsday
‘Packer's portrayal of one family's breakdown is tragic and utterly engrossing’ O, The Oprah Magazine
‘Absorbing … celebrates family even as it catalogues its damages’ People Magazine
'Packer is an expert American realist at every level, from the interior monologue to the bird’s-eye view' Vulture
‘A big heavily plotted family saga to dive into and savour: deftly written, at times, funny, and always psychologically astute’ NPR
‘A superb storyteller … Packer’s dissection of domestic life reminds me of her elders in the field Anne Tyler and Louise Erdrich’ San Francisco Chronicle
‘In shimmering prose and with exceptional wisdom, Ann Packer examines the life of a California family … revealing the ways in which the past casts both shadow and light on the present … a provocative, dazzling novel from a world-class fiction writer’ Christina Baker Kline, author of The Exiles
‘Beautiful … shows us how much of our adult identity has been fully formed in childhood … [Packer's] mastery of story make us identify with and deeply care for her characters’ Abraham Verghese, author of The Covenant of Water
‘Packer flawlessly executes the most daring, difficult and exhilarating feat in the novelist's repertoire: to re-create the history of an era and a place through the history of one family … pulling it off with mastery, authority and all the passionate artistry that lovers of her work have come to expect’ Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
‘Tender, absorbing … painfully captures the tumult of selves within a family’ Catherine Newman, author of Sandwich
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Ann Packer
- Narrator
- various
- Duration
- 13 hours 15 minutes
- Release Date
- 29 January 2026
- ISBN
- 9780008735067
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Family saga / generational saga fiction, Family life fiction / Stories about family, Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general
Synopsis
‘A tour de force family drama’ ELLE ‘Bursting with poignancy’ NEW YORKER ‘Tender, absorbing’ CATHERINE NEWMAN ‘First-rate storytelling’ BBC ‘A riveting novel about how family molds us – for good and ill – and the grace that comes with forgiveness’ PEOPLE MAGAZINE Bill Blair finds the land by accident, three wooded acres in a rustic community south of San Francisco. The year is 1954, long before anyone will call this area Silicon Valley. It is here that he will fall in love with Penny Greenway, build a home and raise a perfect family. Decades later, the lives of the three oldest Blair children are upended by the return of their younger brother, James – the wayward son – whose sudden presence forces to light the siblings' past rivalries and grievances, and sets off a struggle over the family's future. From New York Times bestselling author, Ann Packer, The Children's Crusade explores the secrets, desires and heartbreaks of one Californian family over the course of five decades. **Some Bright Nowhere, the latest novel from Ann Packer is available now** ‘This is a novel with something to teach about forgiving the people we love’ NEWSDAY ‘Superb … 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’ SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE ‘A beautiful novel that will stay with me’ ABRAHAM VERGHESE
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