Dr. Bill Blair, just back from the horrors of patching up wounded soldiers in the Korean War, drives through the woodsy foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Palo Alto. He’s looking for ...

Ann Packer's new novel, "The Children's Crusade," recounts the story of the Blairs, a privileged, upper-middle-class family, in smooth, unsurprising, white-bread prose. But the Blairs' collective ...

Ann Packer's new novel, The Children's Crusade, opens in California, on a scene that's so bedrock American, it's borderline corny. In the fall of 1954, a young Navy doctor newly discharged from ...

In her compelling new novel, Ann Packer explores five decades in the complicated lives of the Blair family. Focusing on what happens when children grow up with mismatched parents, she juggles ...

The Children's Crusade (**** out of four), Ann Packer's absorbing novel about a California family, is suffused with parental love. ... The Children's Crusade. By Ann Packer. Scribner, 432 pp.

The family home looms large in Ann Packer’s affecting new novel about growing up, moving apart and letting go. Spanning five decades in the lives of the fictional Blair family, “The Children ...

“The Children’s Crusade,” by Ann Packer (448 pages, Scribner) This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 9:51 AM. Get unlimited digital access #ReadLocal. Try 1 month for $1.

Ann Packer She discusses her new novel, The Children’s Crusade, with Nancy Pearl. Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Free Tuesday, April 21, 2015, 7pm Viet Thanh Nguyen His ...

A young doctor buys a piece of land in a place that will later be known as Silicon Valley, building a house that will shape his family for decades. Ann Packer is an expert at complicated ...

Bill and Penny Blair had a plan for the perfect life in late 1950s California: Build a home on a piece of oak-dominated land in Portola Valley and a life around Bill’s career as a paediatrician ...

The Children’s Crusade. Ann Packer. Scribner. 448 pages. $26.99. Bill and Penny Blair had a plan for the perfect life in late 1950s California: Build a home on a piece of oak ...