The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer

I like this author. I recall Dive From Claussen's Pier fondly so couldn't wait to get this book from the Library. I did like it, but it frustrated me a bit. I wanted to understand Penny, the mother, a little better. While I respected her as a feminist and an artist trying to find her "soul" through her art, her character seemed distant and cold.
Here is a review from Booklist:

Told in the most elegant prose, this extraordinarily compassionate tale, set in the Bay Area and spanning 30 years, follows a doctor, his wife, and their four children. Bill Blair is a gifted healer and near-perfect role model who worries that his wife Penny's unhappiness will traumatize their children. With the birth of their fourth child, Penny is suddenly deeply unhappy with her domestic role and opts to turn their garden shed into an art studio, where she spends most of her time. The children, meanwhile, feel her absence deeply and try to lure her back into the fold, with mixed results. Years later, three of the children still reside near their family home: headstrong Robert is, like his father, a doctor; Rebecca, always so helpful as a child, is a psychiatrist; and dreamy, sensitive Ryan is a schoolteacher. But when rootless James, the youngest and always the problem child, suddenly turns up, the family is thrown into disarray and must find a way to recalibrate old dynamics. Packer fully captures the intimacy of this family's life and, by extension, the way the children's interactions impact their adult lives. A masterful portrait of indelible family bonds.

After I went back to read the Times reviews, I found that one reviewer really didn't like the book at all, but the other one did! Not surprising.