The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

This is by far one of my favorite books read in the last year. Every character brought something of value to the story even the ending seemed appropriate for that time in life of the main character.

Imagine 32 foster homes by the age of ten, your case worker and others think that you are mentally impaired when in actuality no one made an effort to ask a question in the classroom or make an inquiry beyond being terse, no friends, and even the adoption that you thought would happen didn’t and your decision to create a resolve that might bring about the adoption certainly did not go as planned. 

When she aged out of foster care, she literally lived on her own in a park, among the nature she adored and found sanctuary. She learned about and found great solace in flowers, their meanings which was used to build a life as a much favored florist but did not necessarily bring her happiness. 

She found love but since it was a foreign entity to her, she could not accept it, understand it or the passion filled consequences of her actions.  She desperately tried motherhood but thought of herself as a failure or that it just wasn’t meant for her. Only after she gave up what could have been her future did she realize the meaning or importance of what was thought lost to her. 

She seemed to live a life of confusion except when working with or the discussion of flowers and their meanings as she understood them to be. When she learned about other definitions for her beloved flowers, she began to question her judgment. She had an established clientele and received regular referrals.  It seems that her recommendations did have some much desired results for her clients, hence her initial concern.  Alas and as it turns out she had no need for concern after all.

No, this is not a totally depressing book. Please switch your mental gears to allow your heart to listen for more as you come to understand her life choices that were built and developed through traumatic events. These shaped her life and eventually led to being able to reach for “humans” over flowers, to a life that she just might be able to accept and want, plus  equally important,  to the three people who will really, really love her and were just waiting for her to decide when the time was right.