Victoria Jones has lived in 32 foster homes. She just turned 18 and has officially aged out of the foster care system. When we meet Victoria, her lifelong case worker is delivering her to a temporary 90-day housing until she can find a job and secure housing on her own. This is no small task for Victoria, who seemingly has no marketable skills and is socially awkward at best. Unceremoniously, she is moved into her new room and given $20 and the advice to get a job as soon as possible. The only thing Victoria knows or cares about is flowers.
Victoria is evicted onto the streets of San Francisco, where she crosses the path of an overworked florist with a big heart named Renata. After unloading her truck one day, Renata asks Victoria to accompany her to the weekly flower market. Their friendship grows from there, and Victoria’s circumstances begin to improve vastly. While in the flower shop, Victoria has the opportunity to demonstrate not only her knowledge of flowers but their long-lost meaning, a forgotten language.
The story alternates between Victoria’s past and present, and we quickly learn Victoria came close to a mother figure named Elizabeth who taught her the language of flowers.
Her past and present worlds collide when she meets a young man, Grant, at the flower market who shares her past, being Elizabeth’s nephew. This chance encounter raises those painful memories of loss to the surface, and the reader eagerly anticipates discovering the reasons behind Victoria’s emotional wounds.
Although initially resistant and unaccustomed to sharing her feelings, Victoria and Grant begin a romantic relationship that seems destined to fail.
“The Language of Flowers†by Vanessa Diffenbaugh is a terrific tale with Victoria’s fundamental desire for love and family at the very heart. This is Diffenbaugh’s first novel and an impressive one. I do hope this is the beginning of a long writing career.
Claudia Schoonover is the director of Missouri River Regional Library.