Book Review: The Language of Flowers
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Victoria Jones has grown up in the foster care system in California. Now she is eighteen years old and must make it in the world on her own. She has trouble relating to other people but feels a deep connection to flowers and even uses them to help her communicate with people. She manages to get a job with a florist and soon earns a reputation for being able to help people with their problems by choosing the right flowers for them. Along the way she meets a young man at a local flower market who forces her to confront a painful secret from her past.
I loved this book for so many reasons. As a foster parent myself, I was both surprised and pleased that the portrayal of how the foster care system works is fairly accurate. This is no doubt because the author is also a foster parent.
Victoria is deeply flawed yet utterly sympathetic. She has been tragically affected by her years in foster care and the author knows that a knight in shining armor or kindly floral shop owner is not going to magically make it all better overnight. It’s hard to watch Victoria make the wrong choices but at the same time I appreciated the authenticity of the story.
SPOILER AHEAD:
I was very impressed by a section of the book where one of the characters is breastfeeding her new baby. The author perfectly portrays the wide range of emotions a new breastfeeding mother goes through – from feeling like you love the baby more than you thought possible to hating it for being a sucking parasite that is making you more sleep deprived than you ever thought you could be. I don’t think I’ve ever read such a realistic representation of what it’s like to have a new baby.
END SPOILER
This is Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s first novel. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
This book comes out today! Buy it at:
Amazon
(I received this book courtesy of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)
