The Baxters Books in Order
Karen Kingsbury has written over 30 novels about the Baxter family, a large Christian clan navigating love, loss, faith, and redemption across multiple generations. The series began in 2001 and continues today, having sold over 25 million copies.
John and Elizabeth Baxter raised five children in Bloomington, Indiana. Each child's story spans multiple books: Brooke the doctor, Kari the struggling single mother, Ashley the artist, Erin the peacemaker, and Luke the lawyer. Their children's children eventually get their own storylines. The family tree requires a diagram to follow.
The books deal with topics Christian readers often face: unwanted pregnancies, affairs, illness, doubts about faith, prodigal children who leave the church and sometimes return. Kingsbury writes from an evangelical perspective, and her characters pray, attend church, and experience what they interpret as answered prayers. The theology is specific rather than generic.
Readers who connect with the Baxters become deeply invested in the family. Kingsbury receives letters from fans who name their children after characters or plan vacations around Bloomington. Roma Downey and Ted McGinley star in the Prime Video adaptation, which premiered in 2023. The show emphasizes the family drama over the explicitly religious elements, though faith remains central to how the characters make decisions.