The Crooked Branch

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Near the end of the book, Ginny and Alice Spring have a violent confrontation that ends horribly. Did Ginny murder Alice Spring, or was it self-defense? A terrible accident? Some combination of these? Does Ginny’s behavior in the aftermath of the struggle make her more or less culpable? Was she right to take all of the money and travelling papers, and to flee Ireland with her children? Or would it have been more honest for her to report Alice Spring’s death to the authorities? As we learn from the recording in the library, Raymond thinks of his mother’s actions as heroic. Are they? At the beginning of the book, when the blight first sweeps Ireland, Ginny and Ray make the decision that one of them must go to America for work. Is this the right decision? Similarly, when Ginny and her children reach the brink of starvation, she leaves them home alone to seek out the position at Springhill House. Is she right to do this? Does she have any choice? Why or why not? The last time I felt this way about a past-present story line was reading The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy. I hope you get a chance to read this one! I so often feel the same way that you do about books that blend stories from past and present. I’m glad to see that you’ve found one that makes both stories equally important and read-worthy. Makes the book one I’ll be looking for. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a fan of alternating timelines or viewpoints, but this book is the exception that proves the rule.

Jeanine Cummins - Wikipedia Jeanine Cummins - Wikipedia

My favorite part of this book was Ginny’s story. If this book had been just about Ginny and her children then this would have been a perfect book and I would have given it 5 stars. However, I still enjoyed this book. Why I liked Ginny’s story so much better was because of her strong determination and love for her children. Also, she had a great story to tell. I was enriched in history. Also, I admit that I have always been fascinated with stories of Ireland. I hope to go there someday for a visit.From the national bestselling author of American Dirt and A Rip in Heaven comes the deeply moving story of two mothers from two very different times. Majella’s labor is long and difficult, and results in her giving birth to Emma by c-section. Do these factors affect how she adjusts to motherhood? Is her transition into motherhood a particularly bumpy one, or is it fairly normal? Would you describe her as having postpartum depression?

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I could remember having some of the same thoughts as Majella when I was a new mom, but I bet I would have enjoyed her story line even more if I’d read it 12 years ago! I struggled with the book and it was a DNF for me. Some of it might be due to my personal experience with very serious pregnancy complications---the early scenes of the protagonist's 27-hour labor were tough to listen to but I made it through it. When she became whiney later on in the story, I had to give it up. Lois the Witch and Other Tales is an 1861 collection of five stories by Elizabeth Gaskell. The book was published by Bernhard Tauchnitz in Leipzig. The staff and residents at Springhill House live largely beyond the reach of the famine and, while some experience occasional glimmers of guilt, they mostly carry on as if everything is normal. Is this kind of “willful amnesia” immoral? What, if anything, could they do to help influence the events around them? What could any of the staff at Springhill do to save some of the starving population beyond the gate? What about Murdoch? Or Alice Spring? What is their moral imperative, and how does it differ from the people who work for them? Exploring the effect of a secret from the past on a woman who is truly on the edge—of motherhood, of her future, of sanity, of happiness—Jeanine Cummins has written a story that truly resonates. Insightful, suspenseful, and sometimes bitingly funny, with characters the reader will think about for weeks, this bittersweet novel is emotional and immensely satisfying.”—Award-winning author Simone St. JamesDespite the centuries that separate them, Majella is heartened to learn that her ancestor Ginny was in so many ways a woman just like herself - just a mother struggling to find a way to raise and protect her young children. Ginny's battles may have been more fundamental than Majella's - as she struggled to keep her young family alive during the time of Ireland's Great Hunger - yet Majella can't deny the strong connection that she still feels towards Ginny. However, does the fierce tenderness that Majella begins to feel towards her newborn daughter outweigh everything else - or is she actually genetically fated to be a bad mother? Determined to understand the truth of her heritage as well as her own identity, Majella seeks to learn more about Ginny Doyle's personal history - and discovers surprising new truths about her family and, ultimately, about herself. Farmers Nathan and Hester Huntroyd haben recht spät geheiratet. Sie haben daher nur einen Sohn, Benjamin. Sie überhäufen Benjamin mit ihrer ganzen Liebe. Niemand ist so perfekt wie ihr Sohn. Ein sehr modernes Verhalten, das auch die gleichen Folgen hervorbringt, wie so manche heutige Nichterziehung. Benjamin wird sehr eigensinnig und ist nicht er – sondern verzogen. Seine Eltern arbeiten schwer, um ihm ein Studium zu ermöglichen, Benjamin hat jedoch andere Pläne und genießt das Londoner Leben weit über seine finanziellen Möglichkeiten.

The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins | Waterstones

Wonderful review, Anna! This almost sounds like required reading for mothers. Of course, this story is unique, but I’m certain mothers could relate to the intense emotions of motherhood.Exploring the effect of a secret from the past on a woman who is truly on the edge—of motherhood, of her future, of sanity, of happiness—Jeanine Cummins has written a story that truly resonates. Insightful, suspenseful, and sometimes bitingly funny, with characters the reader will think about for weeks, this bittersweet novel is emotional and immensely satisfying.” And those who dare to have children or long to have children open themselves to the potential of heart rending suffering and grief and loss. Zombie Parents Guide (Alice in Wonderland)59. a barmy bookworm (Mrs Dalloway)60. Janie (Ireland)61. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (The Crooked Branch)62. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (The […] Leo loves Majella, and he tries to be empathetic, but there are moments when he just doesn’t understand what his wife is going through. Is he a supportive husband? How could he be better, more helpful? Is Majella right to get angry when he uses the word “babysitting” to describe staying home with their daughter, or does she overreact?

The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins | Diary of an Review: The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins | Diary of an

Majella’s relationship with her own mother is hardly a model one. Her mother is so far removed from anything that’s real, rambling on and on about random things and never stopping to listen to her daughter, who is falling apart at the seams. When Majella finds a diary written by an ancestor who survived the famine in Ireland, there’s one passage that makes her believe she is genetically programmed to fail at motherhood. In alternating chapters, we follow Ginny Doyle, in Ireland in 1846-7, during the famine and Majella, her great-great-great? granddaughter in current day NYC as each struggles to figure out how to be a good mother, what you should be willing to sacrifice, and what you should not. The Crooked Branch follows two desperate mothers struggling through vastly different hardships, one in present-day Queens and the other in Ireland in 1846-47 during the Great Hunger, also known as the potato famine. Majella’s present-day story centers on her inability to adapt to motherhood and her fears about her mental health. She feels like she failed baby Emma from the beginning because she had a c-section after a long and difficult labor. She loves her daughter, but worries that she’ll never be the mom she dreamed of being, feels that she’s lost the person she was in her life before, and thinks she’s going crazy. She doesn’t think it’s postpartum depression; she thinks being a bad mother has been passed down through the generations and is in her genes — and the dreams, the blow-ups, and the inappropriate comments she can’t help making must prove it. Die einzige Stütze der beiden Bauersleut ist die Tochter einer Schwester, die sie bei sich aufgenommen haben. Eigentlich, damit sie irgendwann Benjamin heiratet, schließlich sind die beiden Kinder miteinander aufgewachsen. When Majella learns the truth about her ancestor, she feels absolved and rejuvenated. How are Majella and Ginny alike? In what ways are they different? What about Majella’s mother? Are there family characteristics that all of these women share, despite the generations that have passed between their stories? How much of motherhood is passed down, either through observation and experience, or genetics? To what degree is it possible for a woman to overcome poor examples of parenting and create her own path as a mother?When Leo and Majella found out they were expecting Emma, they left their apartment in Manhattan, and moved in search of a more suburban lifestyle in Queens. Were they right to make that move? How would Majella’s experiences as a new mother have been better or worse if they had stayed in Manhattan, or if they had selected a more neutral setting than the house where Majella grew up? The Crooked Branch is a story of a family, of mothers, of women. It’s a story of grief and loss. It’s a story of hope and sacrifice. It’s a story of the costliness of love. Sometimes it will take your life. Sometimes it will take your heart. Sometimes it will take others to enable you to survive.