Ladies' Home Journal Book Club discussion

Our pick for May 2012 is The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh!

Here is our review:

We can almost guarantee that Victoria Jones, the troubled (and at times exasperating) narrator of this engrossing first novel, will get your book club fired up for debate. Victoria has been shuttled from one foster home to another since birth. Now, at 18, she’s on her own, sleeping in a San Francisco park, a small flower garden her only comfort. Victoria’s preoccupation with flowers dates back to the single happy period of her life, when, as a ten-year-old, she was nearly adopted by Elizabeth, one of her foster mothers. Elizabeth teaches Victoria an arcane language in which every flower symbolizes an emotion, and long after the two of them part, Victoria uses this language to convey hidden messages in floral arrangements. Her unusual gift leads to a job at a flower shop and eventually to romance. The pair’s relationship is fraught with secrets—one of which nearly costs Victoria the reader’s sympathy. Nearly. Ultimately, you’ll stick with this prickly, fiercely proud woman, who finally gets the love everyone deserves.

Let's chat about this book! Did you read it? Is your book club going to adopt it? What reactions did you have to it? Anything goes!

Need somewhere to begin? Check out our online extras for the book here:
A Letter to Readers from Vanessa Diffenbaugh
A Q&A with Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Discussion Questions