Her Name is Rose: A Novel

Christine Breen

Christine Breen has written a beautifully-rendered first novel that takes readers on an odyssey from Dublin and County Clare to Boston and New York and back. In 1990, an American girl studying in Dublin gets pregnant and gives up her baby Rose for adoption to an Irish couple who raise the child with love and devotion. Nineteen years later, circumstances force the mother to travel to Boston to track down the birth mother, unleashing secrets and regrets that lay dormant in everyone’s hearts. Boston readers will enjoy the evocative sketches of St. Botolph Street, concerts at Titus Sparrow Park and the Mapparium at the Christian Science Building. A long-time resident of County Clare herself, Breen perfectly captures the daily routines and inflections of the Irish countryside. Her characters – Irish and American alike – display a gentle wisdom in accepting the unforeseen twists and turns of life.
St. Martin’s Griffin Press | $15.99 PB | 290 pages | April 2015