The Language of Flowers

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in her life. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

These book club questions are from the publisher, Penguin Random House.

Book club questions for The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

What potential do Elizabeth, Renata, and Grant see in Victoria that she has a hard time seeing in herself?

While Victoria has often been hungry and malnourished in her life, food ends up meaning more than just nourishment to her. What significance does food take on in the book?

Victoria and Elizabethbeth struggle with the idea of being par tof a family. What does it mean to you to be part of a family? What defines family?

Why do you think Elizabeth waits so long before trying to patch things up with her long-lost sister Catherine? What is the impetus for her to do so?

The first week after her daughter’s birth goes surprisingly well for Victoria. What makes Victoria feel unable to care for her child after that week ends? And what allows her to ultimately rejoin her family?

One of the themes of the book is the idea of forgiveness, of second chances—do you think Victoria deserves a second chance after the things she did (both as a child and as an adult)? What about Catherine? And Elizabeth?

What did you think of the structure of the book—the alternating chapters in the past and the present? In what ways did the two storylines parallel each other, and how did they diverge?

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?

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?

Based on your reading of the novel, what are your impressions of the foster-care system in America? What could be improved?

Knowing what you now know about the language of flowers, to whom would you send a bouquet, and what would you want it to say?

The Language of Flowers Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the The Language of Flowers discussion questions