Book 18: The Language of Flowers

The Language of Flowers is Vanessa Diffenbaugh's ambitious debut, exploring the complex worlds of foster care, homelessness, marriage and communication. Victoria Jones has been in and out of foster placements her whole life, and when she is released from the care system at 18 she is left homeless, alone and without the life skills that many take for granted. One thing she does have, though, is flowers. During her longest standing placement with her last foster mother, Elizabeth, Victoria learns about the language of flowers, a covert method of communicating where each flower has a different meaning. She therefore uses flowers, rather than words, to express her emotions, meaning that her recipients have no idea what the flower truly means. Victoria’s love for flowers leads to her becoming a florist's assistant following her emancipation, and she eventually sets up her own business, using the language of flowers to cater for her clients’ needs. Meanwhile, she forms her first meaningful friendship with Grant, Elizabeth’s nephew, and Victoria emerges from the novel as a young woman who is learning to come to terms with her past and embrace her future, which has better prospects than she could ever have imagined.

As the novel is written from Victoria's perspective, the reader can easily empathise with her, especially as the chapters alternate between the present day and Victoria's placement with Elizabeth eight years earlier. The novel being split into four parts allows the reader to easily follow the phases of Victoria’s development: Common Thistle, signifying misanthropy, or dislike of humankind, A Heart Unacquainted, Moss, signifying the rootless nature of maternal love, and New Beginnings. Diffenbaugh's choice to alternate the titles of the parts between the language of flowers, Common Thistle and Moss, and the more 'conventional' titles reflects how Victoria's communication with the rest of the world is a mix of the two languages. As victory over adverse circumstances is central to the plot, Diffenbaugh's choice of the name Victoria is significant, as it means victory. Furthermore, it serves as a nod to the Victorian era, the period when the language of flowers was most widespread, allowing people to send secret messages to their lovers, enemies or families. 

Diffenbaugh herself is a remarkable woman, as a current foster mother to three children, as well as biological mother to two, she is able to draw on her knowledge of the foster system throughout the novel, from the bullying in group homes, to the enormous difficulties of trying to make a life for yourself once emancipated, lacking resources, skills and money. As a result, 49% of 21 year olds who left foster care are unemployed, and 25% experience homelessness at some point before they reach 25. In a bid to improve this, Diffenbaugh founded The Camellia Network in 2010, which aims to give young people exiting the care system the support that they need to flourish as adults. In the language of flowers, Camellia signifies 'my destiny in your hands', which reflects the situation which these young people are in perfectly. 

Although The Language of Flowers takes a while to pick up momentum, once it does, it is a master-class in compassion, love and forgiveness that is difficult to put down. Since there are around 70, 000 children and young people living in care in the UK alone, increased awareness of the struggles that many of them face can only be a positive thing, and The Language of Flowers certainly provides this much needed platform.