Three Flowers

Synopsis

For Caitlin Bailey the past has been far from easy. Living in the shadows of her mother’s mental illness, she has been brought up in Dublin by her aunt Milla since her father left and her mother was admitted to residential care. Now, aged 22, and with her mother back home, Caitlin is escaping to London with her artist boyfriend Fitz to live life on her own terms. What does she want? Who is she?

London brings a new job as a gallery assistant and exciting new friends, but intrusive memories of her childhood haunt Cailtin’s nights. And then Fitz leaves to work in Rye — it’s temporary but feels like another abandonment. What follows will change everything.

A love story in which past and present reverberate, Three Flowers asks what we need to hold, what we need to let go in order to love and live well.

Author

Edwina Bowen grew up in Ireland and moved to London in her early twenties to work. She has a doctorate in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths, and a version of her debut novel Three Flowers formed part of this thesis, which also explored the representation of trauma memory in contemporary female Irish writing. She is currently completing clinical training to become a psychodynamic psychotherapist and as works as a coach and mentor. She lives in London with her husband and three young adult children. She is happiest reading, writing, theatre-going, planning trips, and spending time with friends and family.