Her entry begins:I recently picked up Mary Beth Keane’s Fever, and it is a remarkable book – a thoughtful historical novel about the Irish American immigrant known as “Typhoid Mary.” Keane has done an astonishing job of recreating the detail and texture of New York City in the early nineteen hundreds, but even more impressive to me is how the author has managed to get inside the mind of Mary Mallon. In this telling, Mary Mallon is an entirely...[read on]About The Crooked Branch, from the publisher:
From the national bestselling and highly acclaimed author of The Outside Boy comes the deeply moving story of two mothers—witty, self-deprecating Majella, who is shocked by her entry into motherhood in modern-day New York, and her ancestor, tough and terrified Ginny Doyle, whose battles are more fundamental: she must keep her young family alive during Ireland’s Great Famine.Learn more about the book and author at Jeanine Cummins's website.
After the birth of her daughter Emma, the usually resilient Majella finds herself feeling isolated and exhausted. Then, at her childhood home in Queens, Majella discovers thediary of her maternal ancestor Ginny—and is shocked to read a story of murder in her family history.
With the famine upon her, Ginny Doyle fled from Ireland to America, but not all of her family made it. What happened during those harrowing years, and why does Ginny call herself a killer? Is Majella genetically fated to be a bad mother, despite the fierce tenderness she feels for her baby? Determined to uncover the truth of her heritage and her own identity, Majella sets out to explore Ginny’s past—and discovers surprising truths about her family and ultimately, herself.
The Page 69 Test: The Crooked Branch.
My Book, The Movie: The Crooked Branch.
Writers Read: Jeanine Cummins.
--Marshal Zeringue
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