While the protagonist, Victoria, is incredibly flawed in The Language of Flowers, it is unlikely you will ever feel anger towards her. Trapped in the uncaring hands of foster care her entire life, she is socially inept, volatile and completely mired in grief and rage.
After being booted out of foster care at the age of eighteen, Victoria struggles to find a foothold in adult life. Thanks to a florist, Renata, and a flower vendor, Grant, Victoria finds anchor in her passion, the language of flowers. While she is busy healing the lives of others through her remarkable talent of arranging flowers so that the flowers have a voice, Victoria does not begin to heal her own past until an unlikely thread connects her to not only her past but to herself as well.
With chapters alternating between Victoria’s past and present selves and a captivating and entirely believable vein of magic realism running throughout, you will be mesmerized and silently encourage Victoria to give herself a chance and open herself up to joy.
If you like The Language of Flowers, you should check out Alice Hoffman’s Blackbird House and Sarah Addison Allen’s books, especially the Waverly Family series and The Sugar Queen.