Jonathan Franzen

In 2006, Bret Easton Ellis declared the novel "one of the three great books of my generation." This dramatisation of Jonathan Franzen's acclaimed, epic, award-winning novel revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-20th century to "one last Christmas" together near the turn of the millennium. A family saga, that sits against the backdrop of this century's changing face of America. The novel was published 10 days before 9/11 but is widely considered an observation of what happened to the American psyche after 9/11.

It traces American societies, changing attitudes and standing on the world stage through the eyes of the Lambert's three children: Gary, a banker in Philadelphia who's greed is determined to make his parents sell their Midwest property; Chip, a struggling professor who leaves his life to pursue being a writer in New York City; and Denise, who has escaped a disastrous marriage and had an equally disastrous affair. In the finale; the final Christmas together, can they settle their differences, bridge gaps and make the changes they need to survive?

It's 23 December 1971, and the Hildebrandts are at a crossroads. Fifteen-year-old Perry has resolved to be a better person and quit dealing drugs to seventh graders. His sister Becky, the once straight-laced high school social queen, has veered into counterculture, while at college, Clem is wrestling with a decision that might tear his family apart. As their parents - Russ, a suburban pastor, and Marion, his restless wife - tug against the bonds of a joyless marriage, Crossroads finds a family, and a nation, struggling to do the right thing.