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The Language of Flowers: A Novel, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
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Amazon.com Review
A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what’s been missing in her life, and when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness. Amazon Exclusive: Paula McLain Reviews The Language of Flowers Paula McLain is the New York Times best-selling author of The Paris Wife. She grew up in Fresno, California where, after being abandoned by both parents, she spent fourteen years in the foster care system. A graduate of the MFA program at The University of Michigan, she has taught literature and creative writing for many years, and currently lives with her children in Cleveland, Ohio. I feel it's only fair to warn you, dear reader, that Vanessa Diffenbaugh's central character, Victoria Jones, is going to break your heart three ways from Sunday. She's also going to make you want to pick her up, shake her and scream, why can’t you let yourself be happy? But for Victoria, the answer is as complex as the question is simple. She's spent her childhood ricocheting through countless foster and group homes, and the experience has left her in pieces. Painfully isolated and deeply mistrustful, she cares only about flowers and their meanings. She herself is like a thistle, a wall of hard-earned thorns. When we first encounter Victoria, it's the day of her emancipation from foster care, her eighteenth birthday. "Emancipation" couldn't be a more ironic word for this moment. For Victoria, as for most foster care survivors—-myself included—-freedom really means free fall. She has nowhere to go, no resources, no one who cares about her. She ends up sleeping in a public park, tending a garden of pilfered blossoms, and living on her wits. It's only when a local florist sees Victoria's special way with flowers that she is given a means to survive. But survival is just the beginning. The more critical question is will Victoria let herself love and be loved? The storyline weaves skillfully between the heavy burden of Victoria's childhood—-her time with Elizabeth, the foster mother who taught her the language of flowers and also wounded her more deeply than Victoria can bear to remember—-and the gauntlet of her present relationship with Grant, a flower vendor who's irrevocably linked to the darkest secret of her past. At its core, The Language of Flowers is a meditation on redemption, and on how even the most profoundly damaged might learn to forgive and be forgiven. By opening up Victoria's very difficult inner world to us, Vanessa Diffenbaugh shows us a corner of experience hidden to most, and with an astonishing degree of insight and compassion. So hold on, and keep the tissue box nearby. This is a book you won’t soon forget. --Paula McLain Author Q and A with Vanessa Diffenbaugh Q: What is the language of flowers? A: The Victorian language of flowers began with the publication of Le Language des Fleurs, written by Charlotte de Latour and printed in Paris in 1819. To create the book--which was a list of flowers and their meanings--de Latour gathered references to flower symbolism throughout poetry, ancient mythology and even medicine. The book spawned the science known as floriography, and between 1830 and 1880, hundreds of similar floral dictionaries were printed in Europe and America. In The Language of Flowers, Victoria learns about this language as a young girl from her prospective adoptive mother Elizabeth. Elizabeth tells her that years ago, people communicated through flowers; and if a man gave a young lady a bouquet of flowers, she would race home and try to decode it like a secret message. So he would have to choose his flowers carefully. Q: Where did you come up with the idea to have Victoria express herself through flowers? A: I’ve always loved the language of flowers. I discovered Kate Greenaway’s Language of Flowers in a used bookstore when I was 16, and couldn’t believe it was such a well-kept secret. How could something so beautiful and romantic be virtually unknown? When I started thinking about the book I wanted to write, Victoria and the language of flowers came to me simultaneously. I liked the complication of a young woman who has trouble connecting with others communicating through a forgotten language that almost no one understands. Q: Why does Victoria decide to create her own flower dictionary, and what role does it come to play in the novel? A: In many ways, Victoria exists entirely on the periphery of society. So much is out of the scope of her understanding--how to get a job, how to make a friend, even how to have a conversation. But in the world of flowers, with their predictable growing habits and "non-negotiable" meanings, Victoria feels safe, comfortable, even at home. All this changes when she learns that there is more than one definition for the yellow rose--and then, through research, realizes there is more than one definition for almost every flower. She feels her grasp on the one aspect of life she believed to be solid dissolving away beneath her. In an effort to "re-order" the universe, Victoria begins to photograph and create her own dictionary, determined to never have a flower-inspired miscommunication. She decides to share that information with others--a decision that brings with it the possibility of love, connection, career, and community. I understand Victoria’s impulse completely, and I included a dictionary in the back of the book for the same reason. If readers are inspired to send messages through flowers, I wanted there to be a complete, concise, relevant and consistent list of meanings for modern communication. Q: How does The Language of Flowers challenge and reconfigure our concepts of family and motherhood? A: One of my favorite books is Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. In it, Rilke writes: "It is also good to love: because love is difficult. For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation." To love is difficult. To be a mother is difficult. To be a mother, alone, with few financial resources and no emotional support, is so difficult as to be nearly impossible. Yet society expects us to be able to do it, and as mothers, we expect ourselves to be able to do it as well. Our standards for motherhood are so high that many of us harbor intense, secret guilt for every harsh word we speak to our children; every negative thought that enters our minds. The pressure is so powerful that many of us never speak aloud about our challenges--especially emotional ones--because to do so would be to risk being viewed as a failure or, worse, a danger to the very children we love more than anything in the world. With Victoria and Elizabeth, I hope to allow the reader a window inside the minds of mothers who are trying to do what is best for their children but who lack the support, resources, and/or self-confidence to succeed. The results are heartbreaking for so many mothers who find themselves unable to raise their children. It is my belief that we could prevent much child abuse and neglect if we as a society recognized the intense challenge of motherhood and offered more support for mothers who want desperately to love and care for their children. Q: The Language of Flowers sheds light on the foster care system in our country, something with which many of us are not intimately acquainted. Did you always know you wanted to write a story about a foster child? A: I’ve always had a passion for working with young people. As my work began to focus on youth in foster care--and I eventually became a foster parent myself--I became aware of the incredible injustice of the foster care system in our country: children moving from home to home, being separated from siblings, and then being released into the world on their eighteenth birthday with little support or services. Moreover, I realized that this injustice was happening virtually unnoticed. The same sensationalized stories appear in the media over and over again: violent kids, greedy foster parents, the occasional horrific child death or romanticized adoption--but the true story of life inside the system is one that is much more complex and emotional--and it is a story that is rarely told. Foster children and foster parents, like children and adults everywhere, are trying to love and be loved, and to do the best they can with the emotional and physical resources they have. Victoria is a character that people can connect with on an emotional level--at her best and at her worst--which I hope gives readers a deeper understanding of the realities of foster care. Q: Victoria is such a complex and memorable character. She has so much to contribute to the world, but has so much trouble with love and forgiveness, particularly toward herself. Is she based on someone you know or have known in real life? A: People often ask me if I drew inspiration for the character of Victoria from our foster son Tre’von, but Victoria is about as different from Tre’von as two people could ever be. Tre’von’s strength is his openness--he has a quick smile, a big heart, and a social grace that puts everyone around him at ease. At fourteen, running away from home barefoot on a cold January night, he had the wisdom and sense of self-preservation to knock on the door of the nearest fire station. When he was placed in foster care, he immediately began to reach out to his teachers and his principal, creating around himself a protective community of love and support. Victoria is clearly different. She is angry and afraid, yet desperately hopeful; qualities I saw in many of the young people I worked with throughout the years. Though Victoria is entirely fictional, I did draw inspiration in bits and pieces from foster children I have known. One young woman in particular, who my husband and I mentored many years ago, was fiery and focused and distrusting and unpredictable in a manner similar to Victoria. Her history was intense: a number on her birth certificate where a name should have been; more foster homes than she could count. Still, she was resilient, beautiful, smart, and funny. We loved her completely, and she did her best to sabotage it, over and over again. To this day my husband and I regret that we couldn’t find a way to connect with her and become the stable parents she deserved. Q: The notion of second chances plays a major role in The Language of Flowers for many of the characters. Does this in any way relate to your personal advocacy work with emancipating foster youth? A: As my four-year old daughter says to me on a regular basis: "Mommy, you aren’t perfect." We all make mistakes, and we all need second chances. For youth in foster care, these mistakes are often purposeful--if not consciously so; a way to test the strength of a bond and establish trust in a new parent. A friend of mine called recently, after a year of mentoring a sixteen year-old boy, completely distraught. The young man had lied to him, and it was a major lie, one that put him in danger. My friend, in his anger, said things he regretted. My response was this: good. Your response might not have been perfect, but it was real and your concern was clear. As long as he was still committed to the young man (which he was), it didn’t so much matter what my friend had said or done; what mattered was what he did next. It mattered that he showed his mentee, through words and actions, that he still loved him, and that the young man’s mistake couldn’t change that. Q: The Language of Flowers is one of those stories that will stay with its readers for a very long time. What lasting impression do you wish the book to leave them? I believe that people are spurred into action when they both see the injustice of a situation and the possibility for change. With The Language of Flowers I tried to write a book that was honest and true, but hopeful enough to inspire people to act. Each year, nearly 20,000 young people emancipate from the foster care system, many of them with nowhere to go and no one to go to for support. I am launching a non-profit with the goal to connect every emancipating foster child to a community--a book club, a women’s club, a church group--to support them through the transition to adulthood and beyond. It is my hope that readers everywhere will read my book and become inspired to partner with emancipating young people in their own communities. Q: If you were to represent yourself with a bouquet, which flowers would you choose and why? A: Helioptrope (devoted affection), Black-Eyed Susan (justice), Hawthorn (hope), Liatris (I will try again), Lisianthus (appreciation), and Moss (maternal love). These flowers represent how I am--devoted, affectionate, maternal, and grateful--and also how I want to be--hopeful, determined, and constantly working for justice.
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Review
"Instantly enchanting . . . [Diffenbaugh] is the best new writer of the year."—Elle“I would like to hand Vanessa Diffenbaugh a bouquet of bouvardia (enthusiasm), gladiolus (you pierce my heart) and lisianthus (appreciation). In this original and brilliant first novel, Diffenbaugh has united her fascination with the language of flowers—a long-forgotten and mysterious way of communication—with her firsthand knowledge of the travails of the foster-care system. . . . This novel is both enchanting and cruel, full of beauty and anger. Diffenbaugh is a talented writer and a mesmerizing storyteller. She includes a flower dictionary in case we want to use the language ourselves. And there is one more sprig I should add to her bouquet: a single pink carnation (I will never forget you).”—Washington Post"A fascinating debut . . . Diffenbaugh clearly knows both the human heart and her plants, and she keeps us rooting for the damaged Victoria."—O Magazine"Diffenbaugh effortlessly spins this enchanting tale, making even her prickly protagonist impossible not to love."—Entertainment Weekly“An unexpectedly beautiful book about an ugly subject: children who grow up without families, and what becomes of them in the absence of unconditional love...Jane Eyre for 2011.”—The San Francisco Chronicle"The first-time novelist and real-life foster mother masterfully mixes sweet and tart to create a story that is devastating, yes, and hopeful, but also surprisingly, satisfyingly real."—Redbook“A moving and beautifully written portrayal of the frailty – and the hardness – of the human spirit.”—The Daily Telegraph (UK)“Lucid and lovely”—The Wall Street Journal “In a world where talk is cheap, debut author Vanessa Diffenbaugh has written a captivating novel in which a single sprig of rosemary speaks louder than words. …The Language of Flowers deftly weaves the sweetness of newfound love with the heartache of past mistakes in a novel that will certainly change how you choose your next bouquet."—The Minneapolis Star-Tribune"We couldn't put it down."—Good Housekeeping “Diffenbaugh creates a story of promise and redemption.”—The Sacramento Bee“A deftly powerful story of finding your way home, even after you’ve burned every bridge behind you. The Language of Flowers took my heart apart, chapter by chapter, then reassembled the broken pieces in better working condition—I loved this book.”—Jamie Ford, author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet “This hope-soaked, glorious book speaks to every once-broken, cracked, or poorly mended heart about the risks we take to heal, to be fully human, to truly connect. An astonishingly assured debut.”—Joshilyn Jackson, author of Gods in Alabama “As a foster care survivor, I feel a kinship with Victoria Jones as she battles loss and risk and her own thorny demons to find redemption. Vanessa Diffenbaugh has given us a deeply human character to root for, and a heart-wrenching story with insight and compassion to spare.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife
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Product details
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (August 23, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 034552554X
ISBN-13: 978-0345525543
Product Dimensions:
6.5 x 0.7 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.5 out of 5 stars
4,773 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#52,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
5 Stars, really....5 Stars. It is a GREAT book. Finished it in two days (and I have three kids, a full time job and a BUSY life...so you know...not a lot of sleep!) The writer isn't overly intellectual in her writing, but the topic of using a Victorian-era "language" could get really intricate in description. I would guess that she wanted to add a lot of factual info from her research and then decided that, based on the age of the characters, adding in all of that would have made the story less believable...so, kudos to your restraint Ms. Diffenbaugh! I was looking for a read that wouldn't be too emotional. Something that would pull me in gently and move quickly. I have read too many books, recently that just go on about nothing and 10 pages in you feel like you haven't left the scene....or you're not far from where you were. (Okay, 10 pages is an exaggeration, but you know what I mean...fluff!) I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to enjoy a book after maybe spending too long in T.V.-land, or Rat-Racing through life. This is a nice little place of respite and enrichment.
Concise writing exposes the cruelty of the American foster care system through the story of 18-year-old Victoria and her struggle to make a home after emancipation. Gratefully, one foster parent, Elizabeth, had provided her with a unique education in the Victorian language of flowers, which she translates into a job with a small florist shop. Told through flashbacks interspersed within the current timeline of the novel, the reader follows her circuitous path and learns of her time in Elizabeth’s home, gradually uncovering the reasons for Victoria’s heavy armor and watching it shed as she finds the courage to face and forgive herself, her past, and all the family she’s ever known.
This story was heartbreaking and fascinating and moving and frustrating all at once! It's a fabulously written, compelling read - I finished it in one day! Her descriptions of a childhood filled with desertion and betrayal were thoroughly believable. The love story is meticulously crafted and not sexually graphic. The detailed descriptions of flowers and their meanings was captivating.I highly recommend this book if you like a memoir-style read (and don't mind flashbacks). Though there are hints of violence related to her past - growing up in foster homes and orphanages, however, the author steers well clear of anything graphic or disturbing, which I found refreshing. It is heartbreaking, but utterly readable.
My book club chose this novel and all 6 of us really enjoyed it. The story was unusual and unexpected, with the protagonist Victoria communicating her feelings to others largely by using the old Victorian meanings of flowers. I learned a lot of things I had not heard much about before, especially about the dismal fate of kids, who've been in and out of foster care and group homes all of their lives, once they age out of the system at age 18. It was a sad yet truly inspiring novel.
This was an amazing book; probably the best I've read all year. At my book club, we unanimously loved it. While the definitions of the flowers was a nice addition, one could argue as to whether they fit well ("Peony" to me is not "anger"; but other definitions were better). It was more the story of a small group of unusual people who dont seem like they could ever find love, ...but DO find love. It centers around a girl who goes thru dozens of bad foster homes, and ends up on the street at 18 years old. Her only talent is understanding flowers...their meanings and how to grow and arrange them. Two people cross her path, and eventually love, patience, and flowers brings them happiness (not counting the flower store owner, who is a positive influence). Some of the situations we found shocking, but believeable. Also, the author kept us in suspense thru good writing techniques. it was almost impossible to predict what happened next. We also were satisfied with the ending. I also encourage people to read the back of the book. First, is the list of definitions (which both the author and the girl int he book developed thru multiple books on flowers). Second there are notes that explain why the author chose the subject that add a new dimension to the storyline.
Language Of FlowersAs an Interior Designer I truly enjoyed and understood the language of flowers. The story is captivating, emotionally engaging, intellectually immersing. Characters are believable except Grant, the only male character in the novel. He was unbelievably perfect, who is peaceful, forgiving and loving. Perhaps he is a farmer whose basic instinct is nurturing.Weaving of past and present unfold the story beautifully. It kept me wanting to read. Of course the end is pleasing. However, there would be struggles and Victoria would have to learn to overcome. Keeping relationship, tending to those we love, Victoria discovers while making bouquets of flowers for various relationships.Everything is meaningful. There is meaningful Life in every sentient or insentient creation. Rocks speaks to our heart just as much as flower.Great writing!
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