“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.”

Her Name Is Rose by Christine Breen

About this book: 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.

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.

About the author: Christine Breen was born in New York and educated in Boston and Dublin, where she received a master’s in Irish literature. She is an artist, homeopath, gardener, and mother of two children. She lives in Kiltumper, Ireland, with her husband, the novelist Niall Williams, in the cottage where her grandfather was born.

Genre: Fiction/Contemporary/General/Women’s Fiction

Why I read this book: I liked the sound of it. Plus, as I will be soon be winging my way to Ireland, the Irish connection held particular appeal.

First impressions: I enjoyed holding this book in my hands, liked the look and feel of it: hardcover with deckle edges and hand-drawn images of flowers nestled among the pages. Its first lines drew me right into the heart of the story–exactly where I wanted to be.

If this book were a movie, I would rate it: PG-13. Some profanity, otherwise quite clean.

Reminds me of… A Good Year for the Roses by Gil McNeil

Will especially appeal to… music lovers, gardeners, and those with a heart for Ireland

This story matters because…it reminds us of the miracle of grace.

My take: This was one of those rare but delightful occasions when a novel exceeded my expectations. I try not to quote other reviewers or endorsers very often, but this one from Jane Harris (Gillespie and I) is worth repeating: “It’s hard to do ‘nice,’ and Breen does it very well.”

At first, I struggled just a little to connect with what struck me as Iris’ overreaction to the news that she might have breast cancer. Maybe because I’ve had that news myself and didn’t react in quite the same way, maybe it’s because most over-40 women I know have had at least one call-back following a mammo and it’s almost always fine. In any case, Iris’ extreme measures following this news struck me as over the top.

However, this was easily forgiven–or maybe I should say, better understood–as everything else about the story swallowed me whole. I liked its easy pacing, found the setting charming, the characters appealing, and I was quite willing to follow them wherever their paths should lead. I liked the way the story kept opening up–yes, like a blossoming rose–taking new and unexpected turns with each unfurling petal. As I was reading, I had the idea to question whether this was one of those novels in which the author herself did not know all of its twists and turns, and how it would turn out…until it did. As a reader, I relished these surprises–the new characters, fresh angles, the happy wondering of how it would all fit together.

And when it finally did–like all of the rest of Her Name Is Rose, I found its conclusion surprisingly, satisfying sweet.

[Tweet “For music lovers and gardeners alike, a sweet story from debut novelist @CBreenWilliams”]

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing me a free copy to review. All opinions are mine.

After words: In Her Name Is Rose, the two main female characters–mother and daughter–are a gardener and musician, respectively. Based solely on their interests, which character do you think you’d most likely relate to?