Her Name is Rose by Christine Breen

Her Name is Rose by Christine Breen
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Length: Full Length (290 pgs)
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Reviewed by Stephanotis

People used to say Iris Bowen was beautiful, what with the wild weave of her red hair, the high cheekbones, and the way she carried herself like a barefoot dancer through the streets of Ranelagh on the outskirts of Dublin city. But that was a lifetime ago.

In a cottage in the west of Ireland, Iris–gardener and mother to an adopted daughter, Rose–is doing her best to carry on after the death of her husband two years before. At the back of her mind is a promise she never intended to keep, until the day she gets a phone call from her doctor.

Meanwhile, nineteen-year-old Rose is a brilliant violinist at the Royal Academy in London, still grieving for her father but relishing her music and life in the city. Excited but nervous, she hums on the way to an important master class, and then suddenly finds herself missing both of her parents when the class ends in disaster.
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After the doctor’s call, Iris is haunted by the promise she made to her husband–to find Rose’s birth mother, so that their daughter might still have family if anything happened to Iris. Armed only with a twenty-year-old envelope, Iris impulsively begins a journey into the past that takes her to Boston and back, with unexpected results for herself and for Rose and for both friends and strangers.

Her Name Is Rose has so many wonderful things in between its pages. Colorful characters, a story that has you turning the pages, and settings like London, Ireland and Boston that add just another layer.

My favorite character was Iris Bowen. I always enjoy reading about characters who are at some sort of crossroads in their life and Iris was one of them. She’s lost her husband, needs to keep her promise to him to find their adopted daughter, Rose’s, birth mother, and she might also have breast cancer.

All these factors seemed to blend together and set the plot in motion. She’s strong yet weak which made her all the more real. You cheer for her when she sets off to Boston to try and track down Rose’s real mother. Along the way she meets Grace and Hector who were also wonderful secondary characters.

And then there’s Rose who lives in London and attends the Royal Academy. It’s her scenes that I actually didn’t connect with as much as Iris’ and I think that’s because the author used present tense for Rose’s story which for me seemed somewhat jarring.

I was hoping there would be a happy ending and there was but not in the way I assumed. I won’t give anything away and spoil the book for you. However, I like the way Ms. Breen threw in some plot twists that put some doubt in your mind. Let’s just say you’ll be more than happy for all the characters by the time you reach the final page.

If you love stories with more than one setting, strong yet vulnerable characters and enjoy a feel good ending then I think this might be one you’d like to read.