Silver River by Daisy Goodwin

You may be familiar with Daisy Goodwin as the compiler of poetry anthologies, but this is something completely different, which she calls "a family story". As a child Daisy felt neglected by her mother, and it is only when she investigates the remarkable history of her family that she begins to understand the reasons for this apparent neglect.Much of the action takes place in Argentina, and the Silver River is the River Plate. But before that the family lived in Ireland, at the time of the potato famine,and Daisy visits both countries to find out more.