The Language of Flowers

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Kate: I found it fascinating that someone like Victoria, who is so hardened on the outside, is able to find solace in something as soft and sensitive as flowers—yet it was believable. What was your inspi- ration for her character? Wikisource has the text of a 1920 Encyclopedia Americana article about Symbolism of Flowers. Further reading [ edit ]

Based on your reading of the novel, what are your impressions of the foster-care system in America? What could be improved? At the end of the novel, Victoria learns that moss grows with- out roots. What does this mean, and why is it such a revelation for her?This work of historical fiction was a book club selection and that is how I came to read it. It is without a doubt a must read for historical fiction readers as well as people who as with Victoria may seek joy in flowers by arranging them , smelling then, or just looking at them. This is the story of a girl who matures into a woman while dealing with some of the darkest times a human being can deal with and triumphing with a little help from her flowers. Not only does Dena Seiferling deliver a message about the importance of bees to the ecosystem in her beautiful authorial debut, she also teaches readers of the various meanings of the flowers we encounter every spring and summer. The messages remind me of a YA novel I read earlier this spring, Tahira in Bloom by Farah Heron, in which one of the characters is well acquainted with the meanings of different flowers. But survival is just the beginning. The more critical question is, will Victoria let herself love and be loved? When we first encounter Victoria, it’s the day of her eman- cipation from foster care, her eighteenth birthday. Emancipation couldn’t be a more ironic word for this moment. For Victoria, as for most foster-care survivors—myself included—freedom really means free fall. She has nowhere to go, no resources, no one who cares about her. She ends up sleeping in a public park, tending a garden of pil- fered blossoms and living on her wits. Only when a local florist sees Victoria’s special way with flowers is she given a means to survive.

The writing itself was ok, and a few parts were quite beautifully rendered so in the end I'm givingI've always believed that giving flowers meant something . I knew that red roses meant love and somewhere along the line I learned that Baby's Breath , almost always in a bride's bouquet signified everlasting love . However, that was the extent of my knowledge of the meaning of flowers , originating in the Victorian era - until I read this book . Do flowers speak to us in this way ? I really don't know but it's nice to think so and the author has creatively wrapped this language around this story. The book, though, is about more than what the flowers mean . It is about what it means to belong , to be loved , to be able to love. It's also about family and forgiveness . Though the flowers within the novel largely function as symbols for Victoria, expressing emotional meaning, [4] the novel also includes a large amount of information about the biology of flowers. New York Times Reviewer Janet Maslin described this information as sometimes becoming overly pedantic, saying "the pointed use of flower definitions in conversation begins to pale as a gambit." [2] Conversely, NPR called this motif "organic," growing from the first scene in a flower marketplace. [4] Style [ edit ] Three stars means that the story had a good plot as well as good characters. Usually that's enough for me to like a book Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth

a b c d Watrous, Malena (August 21, 2011). " 'The Language of Flowers,' by Vanessa Diffenbaugh". SFGate . Retrieved 2015-12-01.

The elegantly worded The Language of Flowers made me invest quite a lot during the first chapters, but gambled all my affection away later on. I will try to explain how this unceremonious drop around the middle of the story came to pass after introducing Victoria to you. Flowers in Shakespeare's plays / RHS Campaign for School Gardening". schoolgardening.rhs.org.uk . Retrieved 2016-11-02.

Perhaps the unattached, the unwanted, the unloved, could grow to give love as lushly as anyone else.” For years my message-laden flowers had been faithfully ignored, an aspect of my communication style that gave me comfort. Passion, connection, disagreement, or rejection: None of these was possible in a language that did not elicit a response. But the single sprig of mistletoe, if the give did indeed understand its meaning, changed everything."This review has kind of been thrown together, I apologise. This book deserves better but I thought I'd finish off by sending Ms D a little message.... of the floral kind, about my feelings about this book. Reprints published by Robert Tyas, London, 1841; Houlston and Stoneman, London, 1844; George Routledge and Sons, London, 1869; George Routledge and Sons, London, 1875; George Routledge And Sons, London, 1880. In the United States the first appearance of the language of flowers in print was in the writings of Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, a French-American naturalist, who wrote on-going features under the title "The School of Flora", from 1827 through 1828, in the weekly Saturday Evening Post and monthly Casket; or Flowers of Literature, Wit, and Sentiment. These pieces contained the botanic, English and French names of the plant, a description of the plant, an explanation of its Latin names, and the flower's emblematic meaning. However, the first books on floriography were Elizabeth Wirt's Flora's Dictionary and Dorothea Dix's The Garland of Flora, both of which were published in 1829, though Wirt's book had been issued in an unauthorized edition in 1828. The novel touches on many themes (love, family, forgiveness, second chances). Which do you think is the most important? And what did you think was ultimately the book’s lesson?