What’s it about?
Victoria is a mess. She’s grown up in the foster care system, and she’s just turned 18, which means that there’s no one responsible for her any more. And she certainly hasn’t mastered the basics of finding food and shelter, let alone having a life. But she does like flowers and what they mean. This is the story of how she pieces a life together.
Why should you read it?
You’ll need to make it past the first chapter of The Language of Flowers, which I found slightly cringe-worthy. Maybe I was supposed to – after all, she isn’t a good person at first and her life is pretty terrible. There’s not a lot to like there.
But after that, once you get into her relationships with other people, with her desire to be a florist, with her relationships with Grant and Elizabeth and the family she’s fallen into in San Francisco, it’s good. I like a story where someone turns their life around, and not into a typical life. You can be successful without being a stereotype.