by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, 2011, First novel
What a fantastic book! I could not put it down! Had to keep reading to see what was going to happen to Victoria! She had a horrendous childhood – in and out of foster homes and then group homes, with only one good experience in her entire life, but that was enough to save her. She learned the Language of Flowers from Elizabeth, the only foster mother who ever really loved her and wanted to keep her. She uses that knowledge to get a job in a flower shop, where she runs into Grant, the son of Elizabeth’ sister, Catherine. A love story between Grant and Elizabeth develops and eventually, after many, many months, Elizabeth gets pregnant. She leaves Grant and disappears where no one can find her and when she has the baby, she tries for a month to take care of her but she just can’t do it, so she spirits her away to Grant and leaves her in Grant’s house with Grant and disappears again. She misses them (Grant, Elizabeth, the baby) so much and finally she is able to write the letter to Elizabeth – apologizing and admitting to setting the fire that destroyed the vineyard that caused her to be taken away from Elizabeth when she was 10, and finding that Elizabeth still loved her and forgave her – and wanted her to “come home.” When she gets enough nerve to visit, she finds Elizabeth with her baby girl in the backyard blowing bubbles. She runs to Grant’s flower farm (he lives next door) and he also has forgiven her, cooked her a delicious meal and asked her to stay. She decides to overcome her past and learn to love and accept love from Grant, Elizabeth, and her daughter, Hazel. Grant named Hazel because Hazel means “reconciliation” and he hoped Hazel would reconcile Victoria to him.
Throughout the book the language of flowers is used to describe emotions. Victoria learned quickly from Elizabeth and helped her in the vineyard. She was smart and she learned to trust and love Elizabeth but Elizabeth’s sister, Catherine (Grant’s mother) would not reconcile with Elizabeth over past hurts caused by their own mother and Catherine is the reason (in Victoria’s mind) why Elizabeth didn’t adopt Victoria. Grant was a young boy and Victoria sees him again at the flower marked in SF about 8 years later and he communicates with her with flowers. He gives her orange tiger Lily – queen – “it suits you.” She rejects it. She gives rhododendron – Beware – he throws it away. He gives her mistletoe – I surmount all obstacles. She gives snapdragons – Presumption. He gives her a drawing of a white poplar – she has to go to a library and look at all the old Victorian flower books to discover its meaning – Time.
Attachment disorder mentioned in “Acknowledgments” at the end of the book – so Victoria must have had attachment disorder. When she was homeless in SF she would keep her eye on busy restaurants and as soon as someone would get up, she’d run in and sit down and finish their food! She lived in a park and planted her own garden in that park.
The most suspenseful part was when she had her baby and she was alone with her and although she loved her, she didn’t know how to handle her – constant nursing – she decided to buy formula, and left her alone and fled to her park and laid down and ended up sleeping for 7 hours! When she got back to her apt., the baby was okay but that is when she decided to bring her to Grant and abandon her.