CBR5 - #3 The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Differnbaugh

I heard about this book on a network for kids who are aging out the foster system which the author co-created. It's awesome: https://camellianetwork.org/

This novel is about a girl who has just aged out of the foster system. Her case worker is taking her to a half way house where she has six weeks to find a job or they will kick her out. The story then moves back and forth through past and the present through Victoria's memories of how she got where and she is and what she's doing now.

Victoria has not had a positive foster experience. None of that is really her fault, but there are a few occasions where she can't seem to stay out of her own way. The novel delivers these slowly. The details are sparse and truly the horror of some foster situations is intensified because of that. If a family will deny a five year old food without batting an eye, what else will they do? If a foster parent makes you "prove" you're hungry... you get the idea.

She does at one point finally land in the home of a loving person. One who teaches her the language of flowers and it's an education that saves her life. All of the tension and drama of the novel center around this woman and Victoria's experience with her. To say anymore about it would spoil some of the more powerful moments in the novel.

This book is ultimately about triumph, which I think it had to be. Victoria is a believable character, although her circumstances post half-way house isn't always. A few things come a smidge too easily, or rather conveniently, but are necessary to propel the plot. Regardless of the circumstances though, the growth that Victoria experiences seems very real and one can only hope it's believable.