The Language of Flowers
by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

   I more fully understood Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s book “The Language of Flowers” when I realized that the author had real-life experience as a foster mother. I then realized that she had first-hand understanding of young people who were so damaged by early abandonment and difficult foster placements that they feared contact (even loving acceptance) and became hardened to the point that they would sabotage relationships rather than open themselves to vulnerability and to the love they truly crave.
   In the “Language of Flowers” we meet Victoria, who was abandoned by her mother at birth and has lived in 32 different foster homes before the age of eighteen. Her only real opportunity for adoption was by a woman named Elizabeth with whom she lived for a year at the age if nine, anticipating adoption before tragedy prevented it. We initially meet Victoria much later in her young life, emotionally injured by a long string of unfortunate placements and about to graduate into a last-ditch group home before the system officially is no longer responsible for her care. Headstrong and destructive, Victoria chooses life on the streets above any further contact with the social service system or her long-suffering case worker.
   Eventually, hunger and a realization that she must find some type of employment lead Victoria to approach a florist who is impressed with her unexpected flair for flowers and flower arrangements – skills she learned years ago from Elizabeth. Soon Victoria earns herself a position at “Blooms” floral shop where she surprises the owner’s clientele with her gift for choosing flowers based upon their traditional meanings – and she is often credited with an almost magical insight in matching the flower arrangement with a situation’s emotional components.
   Victoria’s frequent visits to the flower market with florist Renata bring her into contact with Grant, a young man who shares her passion for the meanings best conveyed by flowers. Over time Grant gently and persistently seeks to break down the barriers to personal contact that Victoria has constructed over so many, many years with shocking (and almost tragic) consequences. Finally, Victoria shares the secrets that she has held close for so long and the reasons for her estrangement from Elizabeth who she had allowed herself to love so deeply. We finally learn the how Victoria’s fears caused her to push away the person who truly loved and accepted her, destroying the security and love that she had long sought.
   Fortunately, permanent disaster is averted but not without great cost and complication – and shocking choices made by Victoria. But the “language of flowers” is – of course – part of the author’s resolution. Diffenbaugh has created a captivatingly unexpected story and an engrossing, compelling read.
   Author Vanessa Diffenbaugh found inspiration for “The Language of Flowers” in her own experiences as a foster mother. She studied creative writing and education at Stanford and taught art and writing to low-income youth. She and her husband have three children and live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is her first novel.