Book Review
The Language of Flowers
Vanessa Diffenbaugh
How does one begin to trust after a lifetime of
betrayals? Is it possible for one
to be trusted after a lifetime of one’s own lies and deceit? These are the questions that Victoria
Jones struggles to answer in The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.
Orphaned at birth and processed through the foster care
system her entire life, Victoria has finally reached the age of majority and
has aged out of the foster care system.
Completely on her own for the first time, she must learn to land on her
feet and make it on her own, or face certain homelessness and starvation. At a time when most young women
are just discovering who they are or who they want to be, Victoria must make
these discoveries while simultaneously shouldering the burden of her own
success or failure in a world that has thus far shown more cruelty than
kindness.
With no money, no education and no support system in place
to help her, Victoria turns to the only good thing she’s ever known: The nearly forgotten language of
flowers -- a language created by the Victorians as a means to express their
emotions through flowers.
Is it true that “A rose is a rose is a rose” as Gertrude
Stein once argued? Are things really exactly as they seem to be, or might there
be more to be discovered below the surface? As Victoria struggles to answer these questions for
herself, she is forced to admit to her own culpability in the trail of youthful
destruction she has left behind.
The Language of Flowers is a beautiful story that
intertwines Victoria’s past with her present, and teaches us all the important
lesson that we sometimes must make peace with our past in order to look forward
to a bright future.
This title is available in standard and e-book format at the
library. For more information on
this first novel by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, visit the Random House website
dedicated to this book by following this link.
~ Catherine H. Armstrong
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