Review: Her Name is Rose by Christine Breen

Her Name is Rose

by Christine Breen

Publisher: St Martin's Press

Pages: 304

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  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.

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.


Kritters Thoughts:  Mother and daughter are both on journeys to find themselves and to decide what the future holds for each.  Iris Bowen was unable to have children, so along with her husband they adopt a beautiful girl and raise her in Ireland.  Rose is the daughter and is trying to decide how much violin matters to her and what she wants for her future; along with dealing with the death of her father.

I absolutely adored this book.  Just like the cover, it read so elegantly and I loved having both a mother and a daughter go on a journey where they are trying to find themselves.  There aren't that many books where you get to follow both mother and daughter and both have a need to find something.  Her mother has a potential cancer diagnosis and doesn't want to leave Rose abandoned and alone and I felt for her as she wants to provide security for her daughter, but doesn't want to invite a stranger into the fragile family.  Rose was a great character - she has strived for a level of perfection in violin and is now doubting everything and must either walk away or find confidence and I loved her story arc.

If you love a simple mother/daughter story that had such an ease in reading, then you would love this one and should put it on your list.  


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2015 Challenge: 26 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from St Martin's Press.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.