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The Crooked Branch

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About this listen

 'Rich and intricately drawn... luminous prose' Carolyn Parkhurst

After the birth of her daughter Emma, the usually resilient Majella finds herself feeling isolated and exhausted. Then, at her childhood home, Majella discovers the diary 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.

(P)2020 Macmillan Audio©2013 Jeanine Cummins Europe Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction
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I loved the story line about Ireland but strained on the New York now sections I couldn’t wait for them to finish only to know how the Doyle’s finished up kept me listening.

Only ok

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Felt I wanted to know more about Irish family and how they ALL fared. Two stories ? Enjoyed but not as much as American Dirt or Outsider Boy.

Abrupt end

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Two very different stories. The all too familiar tale of the family’s destitution during the famine was well researched and sensitively written and narrated. But the melodrama of Magellan, ranging at times between manic and genuinely trying to be funny just didn’t work for me sitting alongside the other tragic tale. And don’t get me started on the American narrator….at times it was very painful listening

Mixed

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heart breaking story of potato famine in Ireland. caused by blight and harmless English landlords
don't read if pregnant as labour story is traumatic!

really irritating reader of New York section.

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After reading American Dirt and the equally compelling Outside Boy I looked forward to this novel. However whilst the Irish sections provided a great story brilliantly narrated by Aoife McMahon, the New York present day sections were really annoying and made me want to skip them.

A tale of two halves

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