11. In her determination to save her children, Ginny relies heavily on help from her eleven-year-old daughter, Maire. Is it fair for Ginny to place so much responsibility on Maire? Is there some part of Ginny that just wants to escape from the harrowing circumstances at home, or are her motives for leaving her children entirely pure? Does her leaving constitute abandonment?
12. It is Ginny’s pregnancy that first endears her to Alice Spring, and the arrival of Ginny’s infant son that consequently ensures Ginny’s security at Springhill House. Ginny knows this; is she right or wrong to take advantage of Alice Spring’s attachment to her baby? Is Alice Spring’s fondness for Ginny’s baby sweet or creepy, or a little of both? Could Ginny have discouraged the intensity of Alice Spring’s devotion to her child and still maintained her position at the house? Does Ginny’s behavior make her culpable, in some ways, for Alice Spring’s ultimate unraveling?
13. The friendship that evolves between Ginny and Seán is a source of strength and comfort to her. He is integral in saving her children. Does their friendship ever feel improper or disloyal, given Ginny’s marital status? When they first meet at Springhill House, are Seán’s flirtations harmless, or does he really have romantic motives toward Ginny? Does Ginny respond to his flirtation appropriately?
14. The staff and residents at Springhill House live largely beyond the reach of the famine, and while some experience occasional glimmers of guilt, they mostly carry on as if everything is normal. Is this kind of “willful amnesia” immoral? What, if anything, could they do to help influence the events around them? What could any of the staff at Springhill do to save some of the starving population beyond the gate? What about Murdoch? Or Alice Spring? What is their moral imperative, and how does it differ from that of the people who work for them?
15. Alice Spring is decidedly eccentric, but is she crazy? Are her peculiarities the product of her situation in life (her childless abandonment by her husband, her sheltered detachment from the real world), or are those peculiarities just symptoms of her preexisting insanity?
16. When Seán comes to Ginny with news of her son Michael’s illness, she decides to wait until nightfall before going to him. Is she right or wrong to make that decision, given what she knows at the time? Would it have made any difference if she had gone home sooner, the moment she learned that her son was sick? What might the outcome have been if she had behaved differently?
17. Near the end of the book, Ginny and Alice Spring have a violent confrontation that ends horribly. Did Ginny murder Alice Spring, or was it self-defense? A terrible accident? Some combination of these? Does Ginny’s behavior in the aftermath of the struggle make her more or less culpable? Was she right to take all of the money and traveling papers, and to flee Ireland with her children? Or would it have been more honest for her to report Alice Spring’s death to the authorities? As we learn from the recording in the library, Raymond thinks of his mother’s actions as heroic. Are they?
18. When Majella learns the truth about her ancestor, she feels absolved and rejuvenated. How are Majella and Ginny alike? In what ways are they different? What about Majella’s mother? Are there family characteristics that all these women share, despite the generations that have passed between their stories? How much of motherhood is passed down, either through observation and experience, or genetics? To what degree is it possible for a woman to overcome poor examples of parenting and create her own path as a mother?
19. The book closes with Majella’s mother finally coming to visit her new grandchild. Does this signal a significant change in their relationship? Will this baby girl of a new generation allow Majella and her mother to bond in a way they haven’t before? Is Majella still angry with her mother? How have her feelings changed and why?
20. What do you think of the title, The Crooked Branch? Is Majella’s mother right when she declares that “every family tree has at least one crooked branch”? Who, if anyone, is the crooked branch in this family? What does it mean to be the crooked branch?
ALSO BY JEANINE CUMMINS
A Rip in Heaven
The Outside Boy
Crooked Branch (9781101615072) Page 36