The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer

The time has come to sell the family home for the Blair family.  Bill Blair had found the land in California with a spreading oak tree and knew immediately he wanted to build a house there and raise a family.  He marries Penny and while he pursues his career as a doctor, Penny is left to raise their four children. 

Robert is the oldest child and feels a great responsibility to serve as a model for the other children.  He grows up to follow in his father's footsteps as a doctor.  Rebecca, the only girl, is a psychiatrist.  She marries a much older man and spends a lot of time with the extended family as she doesn't have children of her own.  Ryan is the artistic child and is closest to Penny, who sees her life mission as art.  James is the youngest and is the black sheep of the family.  He is born a rambunctious child and taking care of him and providing for his needs starts the distance between Bill and Penny.  Bill tends to take a path with the children that is nurturing and that doesn't blame them for their behaviors.  Penny is overwhelmed by the children and full of resentment that caring for them interrupts her artistic visions.  Over the years, the parents grow further and further apart until Penny basically lives in her studio on the property, leaving Bill to handle the children.

Now with Bill dead for the past few years, it is time to think about disposing of the house.  Some of the children are for selling while others are not able to contemplate it.  James comes back to visit after years of separation and the siblings attempt to come together and make the decision.  The reader learns about each of their lives as the meetings progress and the issue is decided.

Ann Packer has ambitious plans for this novel.  It attempts to educate the reader about a time and place in American life where the vision of a family was different from today's, although it took place in the 1950's not hundreds of years ago.  At that time, the man was the breadwinner and the woman stayed home with a career of wife and mother.  Families were larger and notions of raising them very different from today.  The reader will be interested to learn how things were arranged then and will bring their own background to play as they determine if the Blair family was correct or misguided in their decisions.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.