HER NAME IS ROSE is a love themed story with music and
flowers set in Ireland, Boston and London.
Iris and Luke meet in college, fall in love, marry and after
trying to have a child for three years, decide to adopt.
The birth mother is a young American, studying in Ireland,
who gives birth to Rose. The Bowens now have their
daughter and are a very close and devoted family. When Luke
dies of cancer, Iris and Rose are lost and grief filled.
How will they continue on without him?
At 19, Rose is a gifted violinist studying at the Royal
Academy in London. She is ready to take her Master's Class
and hoping to ace it but she is concerned. Music has never
let her down but she has never felt so alone before. Her
dad is gone and she misses her mom. And Connor Flynn,
Master violin maker from Galway, who kissed her when he
presented her with the violin he made her, felt rejected by
her. He texted for awhile but gave up when he got no
response. Rose wondered if she had made a mistake?
Iris has just been terminated as a writer about gardening
for the local newspaper and decides to blog about it.
Gardening is the only thing that helps as she mourns the
loss of her beloved husband. After a frightening diagnosis
of "architectural distortion", in one of her breasts, Iris
knows it is time to keep the promise she made to her husband
as he was dying. She has to find the birth mother so Rose
will have some family if she should die leaving Rose
completely alone. Iris goes to Dublin where she has a
meeting with a representative with the Irish Adoption
Agency. No pertinent information is given but when the rep
leaves Iris to get her a cuppa, Iris steals an envelope with
a Boston address from the file. Iris flies from the West
Coast of Ireland, across the Atlantic Ocean to Boston. Her
journey there, her attempts to find Rose's mother, the new
people she be-friends, touched my heart.
HER NAME IS ROSE is the debut novel by Christine Breen
who lives in Kiltrumper, Ireland, with her famous husband,
novelist Niall Williams. I loved her story about family,
adoption, motherhood, told beautifully with real characters
that I found myself rooting for. Perhaps the plot is filled
with many implausible coincidences, but that's why I love
reading fiction. The ending finds both women poised on the
edge of change and leaves you wondering what will be next
for them? Rose has three loves now: her beloved mom, her
violin and Connor. Iris is ready to move on and begin anew.
Will she find a spot in her new life for Hector, that sweet
jazz pianist, who already loves her? What a delicious
sequel this could be. It is a recipe for a very sweet
second course.
Iris Bowen is a young Irish gardener and mother of a beloved
adopted daughter, Rose. A recent widow, Iris has spent the
last two years concentrating on the day-to-day business of
launching Rose into the world. But when she receives some
worrisome results on a breast scan, the words of her husband
as he was dying of cancer become hauntingly urgent. He had
begged Iris to search for Rose's birth mother so that Rose
would still have family if anything happened to Iris.
Suddenly, Iris fears that Rose really could be left alone.
With no records to guide her beyond a twenty-year-old
envelope, Iris impulsively begins a journey into the past
that takes her to Boston and back to the west of Ireland,
with surprising results for herself, for Rose, and for the
others whom their lives touch.
At turns moving and funny, HER NAME IS ROSE by Christine
Breen is a gorgeous and intimate debut novel about what
happens when life does not play out the way you expect.
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