The Crooked Branch by Jeanine Cummins

The Crooked Branch Reviews

• 
  Sharon Orlopp

  I am a huge fan of Jeanine Cummins and gave five-star ratings to her other books,
  A Rip in Heaven and
  American Dirt. I think she's a fabulous author, so I eagerly began listening to The Crooked Branch.
  
  There are many, many great reviews about
  The Crooked Branch and I strongly encourage readers to read those reviews.
  
  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.
  
  I will read Cummins other book,
  The Outside Boy, because I believe in her as an author.
• 
  Carol

  In present day New York, Majella is having a rough time adjusting to life with her newborn baby believing she is truly going crazy. With no help from her erratic absent mother, she imagines dark thoughts of mayhem, hears strange noises and worries about her even crazier neighbor with baby twins......And, when she stumbles across an old clothbound diary in the attic written by an ancestor (Ginny Doyle), she discovers an 1848 Ireland with heartbreaking tales of famine and loss plus a shocking murder causing even greater fears that she inherited a psychotic gene.

  While both stories held my interest and came together nicely in the end, it was Ginny Doyle's heroic struggles of survival that made this novel a 4 Star read for me.
• 
  Diane S ☔

  Ireland, the potato famine, Ginny will have to go to extraordinary lengths to protect and save her children. Current day, Magilla has just given birth and though she loves her baby daughter she is a bit depressed and feels that she is not the mother she should be. Two story lines seems to be the trend now in fiction and in this case I have to say it worked very well. Both these women were very likable characters, I found myself rooting for them both, wanting good things to happen for them. This is also a loving testament to motherhood and the bonds between a mother and their children, as well as the difficulties that can lie between them. I really enjoyed this book, it was very well put together, the characters well drawn and the historical aspects of it, heartbreaking. The will some people have for survival never ceases to amaze me. Endearing, interesting and heartbreaking. ARC from publisher.
• 
  Mary

  After the birth of her daughter, Emma, first-time mother Majella finds herself feeling extremely strange - almost like she has somehow become separated or disconnected from herself and her family. The usually resilient and self-deprecating young woman suddenly feels isolated and exhausted - feelings which she slowly comes to realize reach far beyond simply being overwhelmed by her recent introduction to new motherhood. Trying to better understand her extraordinary feelings of 'differential otherness', Majella understands that no matter how much they may love her, her family just can't help her in this particular situation; so she seeks out professional help.
  
  Late one night, while investigating the source of a strange sound up in her attic, Majella discovers the diary of her maternal ancestor - Ginny Doyle. While it is encouraging for Majella to find Ginny's diary - and to again feel the spark of a connection toward this tough and determined woman, Majella is nevertheless shocked to read a story of murder in her family history. Disturbed to think that she may be genetically predisposed to acts of violence herself, Majella sets out to explore Ginny's past.
  
  With the ravages of the famine upon her, a terrified and distraught Ginny Doyle fled from Ireland to America. Although she was eventually able to acquire passage for herself and her children, not all of Ginny's family were able to escape and to start over fresh in their lives. So, what actually happened during those harrowing years, and just why does Ginny continue to call herself a killer?
  
  Despite 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.
  
  I must say that I absolutely loved this book. In my opinion, it was just a wonderful book; beautifully written and seamlessly woven together. Both Ginny's and Majella's stories were equally compelling for me to read, despite the centuries that separated both women. I'm definitely putting Ms. Cummins' name at the top of my wishlist, and I would certainly give this book an A+!
• 
  Andrea

  This dual-timeline narrative was entertaining in part and cringeworthy in part. I really enjoyed Ginny's story, a suspenseful drama of young motherhood set during the potato famine in Ireland; however, her descendant Majella's modern tale of postpartum depression just didn't draw me in. Ginny's life had true tragedy and she had such resilience, and every step she took in life was realistic and understandable. Majella, on the other hand, wasn't a well fleshed character to me, nor were the supporting characters in her story. Her husband, what's-his-name, was basically a caricature of the clueless man (honestly, it took him half the book to even bring up medication), her friend Jade had just one aspect to her personality (unhappy), and her mother was horrible right up until she was the best mom ever... there was just no depth there. Still, the story was really interesting and I appreciated how Cummins tried to tie the modern-day arc to the historical one (even if I'm not a fan of the concept of genetic memory, I was willing to buy into the idea for the sake of the book). I was also glad to see postpartum depression as a topic for a book - there should be more of that - but would've liked a more concrete resolution there.
  Good, but not great.
  3-3.5 stars
• 
  Connie G

  "Every family tree has at least one crooked branch." This novel shows the different faces of motherhood in one family. Majella is an overwhelmed new mother dealing with the loss of her identity, upset hormones, and lack of sleep. She finds the diary of her Irish ancestor, Ginny Doyle, who was desperately trying to feed her family during Ireland's Great Hunger in 1847. Ginny had to make some difficult decisions before immigrating from County Mayo to New York City. Majella is trying to understand what happened back in Ireland, wondering if her ancestor was a murderer or a saintly mother.
  
  The author portrayed both Majella's and Ginny's stories in an empathetic manner. This would be a good book discussion book for a group of mothers, and includes a readers guide in the back.
  
  I recently visited Ireland's Great Hunger Museum, a little gem in Hamden, CT, so Ginny's story during the potato famine was especially meaningful to me.
  
  http://www.thegreathunger.org
  
• 
  Jenilee Houghtailing

  I would definitely give this book four and a half stars. Jeanine Cummins is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I found the story engaging and creative. The author moved effortlessly from the present to the 1840s and the Irish potato famine. The characters were likable and their actions were believable. I didn't want the book to end!
• 
  Louise Hulewsky

  DNF after 35%. Couldn’t stand the whiney Majella.
• 
  Susanne Gulde

  It's been a while since a book has grabbed me from the beginning and not let go.
  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.
  It is so well written, with memorable characters, I couldn't put it down. I had laugh-out-loud moments, and then tears in my eyes.
  Loved this book.
• 
  Karyl

  This book sucked me in at first. Even though I wasn’t particularly enamored of the storyline regarding Majella, the historical plot regarding Ginny Doyle and her children during the Famine in Ireland was quite engaging. And I admit that Cummins can write — at least during the chapters about Ginny.
  
  But there was quite a lot that turned me off about this book. For one thing, Majella just isn’t likable. I realize that she is a new mother experiencing some form of postpartum depression, but she also seems to have a self-awareness about her that she isn’t behaving well, especially when she’s engaging with her mother. It’s a situation that has played out over years during their lives, and Majella herself notices that she’s reverting to her moany teenage persona when she calls her mother. I also found it odd that it was only Jade that was able to point out to Majella that the reason her mother is the way she is may be because she’s hiding a huge, deep, painful wound. You’d think at least her husband Leo would have noticed and said something to Majella. Majella seems to be extremely self-centered even before she had her daughter, though she has all my sympathy for dealing with postpartum depression.
  
  As mentioned about, the chapters about Ginny Doyle and the Famine in Ireland were much more interesting, though I figured out the why of the shocking event only halfway through the book. You could almost see and smell the blight marching across the fields, and feel the desperation of the farmers left on the land, knowing they’d have no food for the coming winter. I really think this book would have been much stronger had it not had the modern storyline with Majella.
• 
  Valarie Kinney

  Excellent read. Cummins has a way of dropping words like treasured jewels onto the page. The story itself was intriguing and unusual. My first read of hers but definitely not my last.
• 
  Lisa

  Have you ever gotten to the end of a book and thought...What did I just read & can I please get those days back?! Damn! I just put this one down & am totally baffled by the lack of a completed storyline. This book has alternating timelines/characters & Cummins really should have just focused on Ginny, whose story takes place during the famine in 1846, but she just had to bring in annoying Majella & her annoying husband from Present time... ugh. This story went nowhere for me & had a very unsatisfying ending. ☹️
• 
  Bridget Brooks

  Like many historical novels, this has a dual narrative and I really enjoyed both equally and cared about what happened to both protagonists.
  
  I was totally absorbed by the plight of Ginny Doyle who desperately tried to feed her family during the horrendous Irish potato famine of 1846-7, and equally by the daunting struggle faced by Majella in present day NY as she tried to come to terms with her radically altered life after having a baby.
  
  The links between the two become apparent by the end of the book. I would have given this 5 stars but for me, the ending and tying up of loose ends was just a bit too neat so I gave it 4. Still well worth reading though!!
• 
  Kwoomac

  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.
  
  Ginny, her husband, and three children are trying to survive the potato blight, while continuing to produce grains on their plot of land to pay the rent to their absentee British landlord. Those who couldn't pay were evicted and their homes burnt down. They were left to starve and if any neighbors tried to help them, they suffered the same fate. Evicted and burnt out. With a population of about 8 million at the time, Ireland lost one million people who died in the famine, and another million who emigrated.
  
  Majella has recently given birth to her first child and is upset to find she is not a natural at the whole mothering thing. She has always been the best at everything so assumed this would be true for parenting as well. Instead she feels isolated and insecure. She overhears her husband tell his brother that everything is pretty much the same except now there's a baby. No lost sleep, no C-section incision, no loss of identity.
  
  One moving scenario is when Majella goes to a mommies group. The mothers here have very clear rules of what constitutes a good mother (and that definitely does not include bottle feeding!)
  
  4 stars for the interesting setting. A fast read. A bit of a downer, as most famines are.
• 
  Lori Weiman

  I really enjoyed reading this book. I first learned about it by attending a reading by the author at the 2013 Gaithersburg Book Festival. I was attracted to the reading because the topic for the session was "Dual Story Lines" used in literature. In my own writing I've been playing around with such a structure to incorporate pertinent pieces of backstory and I wanted to listen to other authors describe their experiences with using it. In listening to Jeanine Cummins describe her book and her process, I hit the jackpot. She is an engaging and witty speaker, whose reading compelled me to go buy her book. I'm so glad I did! She developed characters that I fell in love with and told a fictional story about the Irish potato famine that had me spell bound, never wanting to put the book down. Ms. Cummins' writing is clear and easy, smattered with humor reminiscent of the author's personal style exhibited during her reading. I highly suggest this book for anyone looking for a great summer read. I will be taking the opportunity to turn to another of Ms. Cummins books to see if the magic continues.
• 
  Tara Conklin

  It was with great regret that I tore myself away from this book to do stuff like, you know, eat and care for my children. It really grabbed me and, after finishing, I spent way too much time googling the Irish potato famine. If Ginny Doyle doesn't move you, nothing will. Very well done novel about motherhood, love, sacrifice, life.
• 
  Nigel Fortescue

  When people “ fill in every conversation with fluff, to prevent you from trying to talk about anything real […] there’s usually some super-deep reservoir of hurt under there that they’re trying to hide. And they spend their whole life doing jazz-hands so that nobody will notice the gushing wound of pain behind the curtain.”
  
  People are complicated.
  Families even more so.
  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.
  
  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.
  
  It’s also a great story about our need for community. We can’t do life alone and while it’s scary - even a nightmare - to share what we really think and feel and experience - when we do there is relief and joy in the love of those around us.
  
• 
  Lisa

  The chapters set during the Irish famine were very gripping and emotional, and I couldn't wait to pick Ginny's story back up each time. However, I would have preferred this story without the present day timeline, which didn't seem to add much to the narrative and had an incredibly whiny and neurotic main character.
• 
  Jenny Mitcham

  Loved this book. Took it away with me on a work trip. Wanted a good story to keep me busy while travelling, and this book totally delivered. Really gripping story (in fact it's actually two stories that are interlinked). It almost made me cry a couple of times - not ideal when queuing at passport control. Definitely recommend.
• 
  Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews

  Could it be true? Could Majella have inherited the "crazy" gene from her mother's ancestors?
  
  From present-day New York and then back to Ireland in the 1800's, THE CROOKED BRANCH, covers a family's history and tells of a mother's love as well as the heartaches it brings. Majella, the New York mother, and Ginny, the Irish mother, are distant relatives but share the same things every mother wants for her children and also all of the things a mother fears about motherhood and raising a family. Majella is experiencing a fear of having a family link of craziness after she read of a murder committed by her mother's great-grandmother, Ginny, in a diary she found hidden inside the hem of a dress in the attic of her childhood home.
  
  THE CROOKED BRANCH takes the reader through the potato famine in Ireland to present-day New York. The book allows you to spend a day with Majella in New York and then back to a day in Ginny's life during the potato famine in Ireland. You will follow Majella as she struggles with being a stay-at-home mom dealing with postpartum depression. Both women have their families uppermost in their minds with Majella also struggling with her relationship with her own mother. You will follow Ginny as her family struggles to stay alive because there is no food in Ireland and where people are dying on a daily basis. You will follow Ginny as she has to bear the pain of leaving her four young children alone to find work as a chambermaid in an estate that won't allow her to go home at night and whose mistress becomes involved in Ginny's family life.
  
  The book is fast paced and has detailed descriptions of the characters, the scenes, and the character's feelings. I enjoy books that go back and forth in time and especially ones that tell of written accounts from ancestors...especially diaries and also in this case a recording by Ginny's son telling of the events in Ireland and their passage to New York. I was quickly pulled into this moving historical fiction book through Ginny's story.
  
  Ginny's story was much more appealing than Majella's perhaps because of the historical aspect, while Majella tugged more at the heartstrings of modern-day mothers who have to deal with leaving the work force and becoming an isolated, stay-at-home mom. The tale was a bit humdrum through Majella's story, but quite fascinating during Ginny's.
  
  My rating is 4/5.
  
  This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.
• 
  Cheryl

  Majella has just become a new mother. She is going through more then just postpartum depression. She is having dreams about her new born daughter being dead. She worries as mental illness does run in her family heritage. She especially worries when she find a diary in the attic from one of her relatives, Ginny.
  
  Ginny lives in Ireland. A time when the famine was really bad for families. It was fight or perish. Ginny was willing to do anything to survive. How far would she go?
  
  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.
  
  The reason that I was turned off by Majella’s story in the present tense was because I felt that Majella was really mean spirited towards her husband and whiny. These attributes of Majella quickly turned me off towards her. I even found myself skipping chapters that involved her, just so that I could get back to Ginny’s story. The Crooked Branch is a worth while read!
  
• 
  Denise West

  This book took place in Ireland during the famine and in NY during present day. It explored motherhood and surviving hard times. The Ireland story really grabbed me! Ginny's struggles and story of survival was so well done. Majella in NY go on my nerves, I found her whiny and wanted her to get over herself. I do recommend this to others, it certainly won't disappoint.
• 
  Jean

  A very gripping story capturing a family’s history of living through the potato famine in Ireland. And a story of today connecting the ancestors through their trials of parenthood. I loved the author’s style and so easy to connect their lives.
• 
  Harriet

  Heartbreaking and gripping
  
  Couldn’t put this down. The Irish potato famine sections were harrowing but persevere because this is such a wonderful story of motherhood.
• 
  Bev

  After giving “American Dirt” one of my few 5 star ratings, and then watching a two part discussion of the book on “Oprah’s Book Club” while the author was being used as a battering ram for LatinX authors, I knew that I was going to read more of her books.
  Jeanine Cummins, you’ve strummed my heartstrings! I have to believe that this author writes with deep emotion. I am yet to do some Googling to learn more about the Irish potato famine of the 1800’s, but I’m certain that Ms Cummins conducted a lot of research.
  Thank you so much for pursuing a career in writing, and in particular, in historical fiction.
• 
  Donna McCaul Thibodeau

  This book goes back and forth between Majella, a New Yorker who is a first time mom, and her ancestor, Ginny Doyle, who left Ireland for America during the potato famine. Majella finds Ginny's diary in the attic of her childhood home. The book does a really great job of contrasting the one mother's struggles of coping with a newborn and the isolation she feels, with the other mother's terror and panic as the potato crop rots and she worries about how she is going to feed her children. As with her other work, this book is beautifully written. This author is fast becoming a favorite of mine.