I ended up liking this book more than I'd expected after reading the first few chapters, but less than all the gushing reviews led me to believe. The Language of Flowers is the story of Victoria, abandoned at birth and raised in a series of miserable, abusive foster homes. At first, I couldn't help thinking of "White Oleander", and had a hard time imagining that the story had anything new to say. 
 Fortunately, I was wrong in that regard. Victoria's life changes at age 10 when she is taken in by Elizabeth, a Napa vineyard owner who is fiercely loving, yet has a fragility at her core that is ultimately the undoing of both Victoria and Elizabeth. 
 The narrative unfolds in alternating timelines, following both Victoria's childhood and her experiences as an emancipated adult at age 18, damaged, homeless, and unable to breach the walls around her heart. What saves Victoria is a lasting gift salvaged from the disastrous end of her relationship with Elizabeth: the language of flowers. Elizabeth painstakingly instructed Victoria as a child on the Victorian definitions of each flower and plant. As an adult, Victoria uses flowers to make her first tentative connections to other people, expressing herself through thistle, moss, and jonquils when words and emotions seems impossible to her. 
 I'm not sure that I believed all the twists and turns of the plot, especially in Victoria's adult timeline, yet I certainly enjoyed the book overall and would recommend it. I know I'll never give flowers to anyone again without checking a flower dictionary first!