Baltimore Sun: Gaithersburg Author Pens Novel About 1840s Irish Potato Famine

Local author and Gaithersburg native Jeanine Cummins has released her new book, "The Crooked Branch," a novel based on the 1840s Irish potato famine, according to The Baltimore Sun.

The book, according to Amazon.com, follows "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."

The Baltimore Sun spoke with the 38-year-old author about the book and her family's history. Cummins' 2004 memoir, "A Rip in Heaven," follows the 1991 murder of her cousins in St. Louis. Cummins' brother also was injured in the attack, according to the report.

Cummins, who lived in Belfast for two years after college, told The Baltimore Sun she wanted to focus on the potato famine because it affected every family.

"By the most conservative estimates, at least a quarter of the population — about 2 million people — either left Ireland aboard the coffin ships or starved," she told The Sun.

"Very few Americans know that the famine was entirely preventable. There was just one potato crop that failed. There was plenty of food being exported from Ireland the entire time the local population was starving."

"The Crooked Branch" was released on March 5, according to Cummins' website.

The full story and Q&A with Cummins can be read on The Baltimore Sun.