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The Crooked Branch
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon, Patricia Rodriguez
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
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The Outside Boy
- Written by: Jeanine Cummins
- Narrated by: Alan Devally
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Ireland, 1959: Young Christopher Hurley is a tinker, a Pavee gypsy, who roams with his father and extended family from town to town, carrying all their worldly possessions in their wagons. Christy carries with him a burden of guilt as well, haunted by the story of his mother’s death in childbirth. The wandering life is the only one Christy has ever known, but when his grandfather dies, everything changes. His father decides to settle briefly, in a town, where Christy and his cousin can receive proper schooling and prepare for their first communions.
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Well written
- By Micaela Pura on 2023-01-28
Written by: Jeanine Cummins
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A Rip in Heaven
- Written by: Jeanine Cummins
- Narrated by: Jeanine Cummins
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
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The acclaimed author of American Dirt reveals the devastating effects of a shocking tragedy in this landmark true-crime work - the first ever to look intimately at the experiences of both the victims and their families. A Rip in Heaven is Jeanine Cummins’ story of a night in April, 1991, when her two cousins Julie and Robin Kerry, and her brother, Tom, were assaulted on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, which spans the Mississippi River just outside of St. Louis.
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Julie and Robin Kerry, I will never forget you!
- By Theresa on 2022-12-08
Written by: Jeanine Cummins
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American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club)
- A Novel
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- Narrated by: Yareli Arizmendi
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Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier, the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city, is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.
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Gut wrenching to listen to...
- By Kinkead2012 on 2020-01-27
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Call Your Daughter Home
- Written by: Deb Spera
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Adenrele Ojo, Brittany Pressley
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
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Performance
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It's 1924 in Branchville, South Carolina, and three women have come to a crossroads. Gertrude, a mother of four, must make an unconscionable decision to save her daughters. Retta, a first-generation freed slave, comes to Gertrude's aid by watching her children, despite the gossip it causes in her community. Annie, the matriarch of the influential Coles family, offers Gertrude employment at her sewing circle, while facing problems of her own at home.
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Southern fiction at its best
- By snowpatch100 on 2019-06-20
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Have You Seen Luis Velez?
- Written by: Catherine Ryan Hyde
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Raymond Jaffe feels like he doesn’t belong. Not with his mother’s new family. Not as a weekend guest with his father and his father’s wife. Not at school, where he’s an outcast. After his best friend moves away, Raymond has only two real connections: to the feral cat he’s tamed and to a blind ninety-two-year-old woman in his building who’s introduced herself with a curious question: Have you seen Luis Velez?
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Excellent Book
- By Anonymous User on 2020-03-01
Written by: Catherine Ryan Hyde
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February
- Written by: Lisa Moore
- Narrated by: Mary Lewis
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1982, the oil rig Ocean Ranger sank off the coast of Newfoundland during a Valentine's Day storm. All 84 men aboard died. February is the story of Helen O'Mara, one of those left behind when her husband, Cal, drowns on the rig. It begins in the present day, more than 25 years later, but spirals back again and again to the "February" that persists in Helen's mind and heart.
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I loved the narration
- By Jodi on 2018-09-13
Written by: Lisa Moore
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The Outside Boy
- Written by: Jeanine Cummins
- Narrated by: Alan Devally
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ireland, 1959: Young Christopher Hurley is a tinker, a Pavee gypsy, who roams with his father and extended family from town to town, carrying all their worldly possessions in their wagons. Christy carries with him a burden of guilt as well, haunted by the story of his mother’s death in childbirth. The wandering life is the only one Christy has ever known, but when his grandfather dies, everything changes. His father decides to settle briefly, in a town, where Christy and his cousin can receive proper schooling and prepare for their first communions.
-
-
Well written
- By Micaela Pura on 2023-01-28
Written by: Jeanine Cummins
-
A Rip in Heaven
- Written by: Jeanine Cummins
- Narrated by: Jeanine Cummins
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The acclaimed author of American Dirt reveals the devastating effects of a shocking tragedy in this landmark true-crime work - the first ever to look intimately at the experiences of both the victims and their families. A Rip in Heaven is Jeanine Cummins’ story of a night in April, 1991, when her two cousins Julie and Robin Kerry, and her brother, Tom, were assaulted on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, which spans the Mississippi River just outside of St. Louis.
-
-
Julie and Robin Kerry, I will never forget you!
- By Theresa on 2022-12-08
Written by: Jeanine Cummins
-
American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club)
- A Novel
- Written by: Jeanine Cummins
- Narrated by: Yareli Arizmendi
- Length: 16 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier, the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city, is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.
-
-
Gut wrenching to listen to...
- By Kinkead2012 on 2020-01-27
Written by: Jeanine Cummins
-
Call Your Daughter Home
- Written by: Deb Spera
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Adenrele Ojo, Brittany Pressley
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1924 in Branchville, South Carolina, and three women have come to a crossroads. Gertrude, a mother of four, must make an unconscionable decision to save her daughters. Retta, a first-generation freed slave, comes to Gertrude's aid by watching her children, despite the gossip it causes in her community. Annie, the matriarch of the influential Coles family, offers Gertrude employment at her sewing circle, while facing problems of her own at home.
-
-
Southern fiction at its best
- By snowpatch100 on 2019-06-20
Written by: Deb Spera
-
Have You Seen Luis Velez?
- Written by: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Raymond Jaffe feels like he doesn’t belong. Not with his mother’s new family. Not as a weekend guest with his father and his father’s wife. Not at school, where he’s an outcast. After his best friend moves away, Raymond has only two real connections: to the feral cat he’s tamed and to a blind ninety-two-year-old woman in his building who’s introduced herself with a curious question: Have you seen Luis Velez?
-
-
Excellent Book
- By Anonymous User on 2020-03-01
Written by: Catherine Ryan Hyde
-
February
- Written by: Lisa Moore
- Narrated by: Mary Lewis
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1982, the oil rig Ocean Ranger sank off the coast of Newfoundland during a Valentine's Day storm. All 84 men aboard died. February is the story of Helen O'Mara, one of those left behind when her husband, Cal, drowns on the rig. It begins in the present day, more than 25 years later, but spirals back again and again to the "February" that persists in Helen's mind and heart.
-
-
I loved the narration
- By Jodi on 2018-09-13
Written by: Lisa Moore
Publisher's Summary
From Jeanine Cummins, the national best-selling author of American Dirt and A Rip in Heaven, comes The Crooked Branch - the deeply moving story of two mothers from two very different times.
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 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.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company
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What listeners say about The Crooked Branch
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- M.S.
- 2020-08-26
Interesting story
Very interesting story with the characters very well described.
However, the voice that reads the part of the story happening in New York (now) is very annoying with the sometimes unnecessary whining (as many other reviewers have pointed out) that that part of the story lost part of its message. Still, I would recommend this book as well as all the currently published books from this author (specially The Outside Boy and American Dirt).
2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2020-07-09
Just One Criticism...
I loved this book. What an incredible writer. My only criticism is the irritating, whiney voice of Magella.
2 people found this helpful
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- Stacey Wood
- 2022-07-25
Modern day protagonist whines and whines!!
I would love to listen to the whole novel - particularly for the historical Irish element - but 4 chapters in and I know I can not listen to the whining which goes on and on by the modern day protagonist. I honestly don’t hold our much hope “she” will change after listening for two hours. Simply not for me 😕
Audible will not refund my credit as I have returned a few other titles. Audible, I do not want my money back I simply would like to have my credit back for a book I can enjoy!
This is my first review. I hope someone finds it helpful ☺️
1 person found this helpful
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- Joanie B.
- 2022-01-21
For every mother
Great book, two awesome stories about being a mother, the good and the bad parts, very relatable.
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- Patricia Devine
- 2021-08-06
Captivating to the very end
I couldn’t it this book down. The narrator was excellent. The story was so compelling and Cummins captured so well the challenges of nee mothers especially those who have children a little later. I could not get enough of Ginny Doyle and her brood. Makes me want to learn more about the Irish famine. I thought American Dirt was good -,The Crooked Branch was even better. I can’t wait to read Cummins next book.
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- Joanne McCoy
- 2020-06-20
A Jekyll & Hyde of a Book
The Ireland portion narrated by Aoife McMahon is well-rendered and enjoyable. Set in 1847 during the Great Hunger, the story’s characters are interesting and multi-dimensional, the plot moves along, and the narrator’s voice is musical and well suited to the narrative. The other story line is set in modern-day Queens, and centers around a young mother with post-partum depression who is impossible for the listener— even empathetic people—to care about or sympathize with...she’s whiny, self-centered, and 99% intolerable. Patricia Rodriguez’s reading is difficult to listen to— I white-knuckled it through those sections, because I was motivated to know what happened at the end, and how the contrapuntal storylines eventually coalesced. I loved this author’s American Dirt and its narrator, but this was a mediocre book with one Set of characters and a narrator who made it bearable and another cast of characters and narrator one who really weighed it down. There are better books and better listens out there.
4 people found this helpful
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- Suzy Gebhardt Clarke
- 2020-06-18
Fraught Women
I very much enjoy Cummin’s descriptions and humor. I found her many fraught women depressing. Thank goodness there’s a happy ending.
3 people found this helpful
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- PiercePress
- 2021-10-06
powerful historical elements
Good story, maybe a little over the top on the mother-daughter relationship thread. Powerful description of the history of the Irish famine. narration was a little cheesy, one actor doing all those voices.
1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2023-01-27
Agree
I totally agree with a previous review. The lead character is so uncomfortable I didn't have sympathy for her. She was so easily influenced and suggest able to the point of prejudice. She is narcissistic towards her mother. I believe my biased feelings toward this character maybe age and different background. From a down south mature women with daughters, the author should have stuck with the historical perspective character.
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- Soni Ortiz
- 2022-12-02
Such a good story
I love the parallels of 2 mothers in completely different eras. Def a must read
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- Stephanie Normand
- 2022-10-18
Beautiful Story of Motherhood
This was a beautiful story of the highs and lows of motherhood, but beware that it has some raw descriptions of postpartum anxiety and depression. It touched a nerve, but overall is a beautifully told story of the strength and triumph of motherhood.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2022-10-01
Wish it was better, loved another one of her books
The story had a pretty good plot, but it had so much unless, wordy, filler sentences, paragraphs. It could have been written in 3 chapters and been just as entertaining. I would’ve like to hear more relevant or relatable events rather than so many words that say not that much. The actor reading the book was awesome though. She made me think of my dads Irish family.
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- Heather L.
- 2022-08-01
Listen to the sample to see if you can stand the reader!
This is my first review. I felt I had to write it because this is also the first audible book I absolutely could not finish. I made it until there were four hours left and I couldn’t take it anymore. The reader for The young American woman is terrible. Her voice is so whiny that it is like nails on a chalkboard. It’s unfortunate because the reader for the Irish woman is fantastic. I thought I could just get through it but her voice and cadence literally makes me want to throw my phone across the room.
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- r
- 2022-07-29
stick with it
I thought it wasn't particularly relatable in the beginning but once Gelly starts to connect some dots it becomes a great story.
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- L
- 2022-06-03
Aoife McMahon’s reading is amazing
Aoife McMahon’s voice and talents made the stories of the Great Famine come to live.