The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

This was a book sent to me (with several other books) by Jackie at Farm Lane Books who realised very early on my frustration at not being able to find English language books easily here in Sri Lanka. This was pre my Kindle days. I am now blessed in that access to books is so much easier, I very often get the latest books kindly forwarded by publishers and it is only now and then that mainly due to geographical restrictions I do not get to read a book.

The Victorians were great ones for using the language conveyed by each flower to convey emotions and though the commoner ones have survived to this day, the intricacies of this language are immense and convey a whole gamut of emotions, feelings and as this story progresses would even help out emotionally or maybe psychologically situations which need a small push in the right direction.

Victoria is our main character and she is a child not of trust or love but of suspicion and mistrust and she uses flowers in the same way to indicate these negative feelings. She cannot be blamed for her situation - her entire life has been one of betrayal and it is only with Elizabeth and then subsequently Grant, Rebecca and the others whom she meets in her adult life that she slowly, very slowly and carefully tries to learn to trust again. Victoria is prickly, likes her own company and does not know how to be social.

Her learning process and the flowers are the two parts of one story which will keep any reader spellbound. One keeps rooting for Victoria knowing the odds are so heavily stacked against her and this story of Victoria and her flowers is an intriguing read.

Thank you Jackie for this book. It is very late for the review as you sent it ages ago but I am so glad I eventually got to it.