Both these women were very likable characters, I found myself rooting for them both, wanting good things to happen for them. Will this baby girl of a new generation allow Majella and her mother to bond in a way they haven’t before? Cummins’ luminous prose, and that feeling we’re all hoping to find when we sit down to read: ‘This is it—a book I’m going to love. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada, Winnipeg, April 22, 2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.

Empathy, Suspense and Love: Elizabeth Gaskell - SSRN Plot and Empathy, Suspense and Love: Elizabeth Gaskell - SSRN

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. Both Ginny's and Majella's stories were equally compelling for me to read, despite the centuries that separated both women. I haven't stayed up past 3 am reading for quite a while, but the emotional depth of the characters, particularly the two mothers, was absolutely gripping.Jeanine Cummins is the author of four books: the bestselling memoir A Rip in Heaven, and the novels The Outside Boy, The Crooked Branch, and American Dirt. Wonderfully written, with strong, compelling characters, it is a deeply satisfying combination of sweeping historical saga and modern family drama, a gentle reminder of the ever-reaching influence of family, both near and far.

The Crooked Branch – Jeanine Cummins

I first learned about it by attending a reading by the author at the 2013 Gaithersburg Book Festival. Majella’s present-day story centers on her inability to adapt to motherhood and her fears about her mental health. The Doyles are better off than many of their neighbors, but still, Raymond thinks their only hope is for him to set sail for New York and stay with his brother while he gets a job and sends money home to his family. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson (29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to simply as Mrs.Jeanine Cummins is the author of four books: the bestselling memoirA Rip in Heaven, and the novelsThe Outside Boy,The Crooked Branch, andAmerican Dirt. Her previous novel, “The Outside Boy” is one of my all-time favorites books (in case you’re looking for another title as part of your Ireland Reading Challenge. With all the other crops and farm animals — aside from a few hens and the cabbages and turnips Ginny grows in her own garden — needed to pay rent to their English landlord, those potatoes were all the family had for themselves until the next harvest.