Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Hvordan kan du elske, når du aldri er blitt elsket? Victoria har tilbrakt hele barndommen i forskjellige fosterfamilier og har aldri latt noen få komme nær innpå seg. Blomstene og deres betydning er blitt hennes måte å kommunisere med verden på. Som 18-åring bor hun i en liten avsidesliggende park i byen, der hun har skapt sin egen hemmelige hage. En dag møter hun blomsterhandleren Renata som blir imponert over Victorias kunnskaper om blomsterspråket og evnen til å sette sammen vakre og talende buketter. Hun tar Victoria med til blomstermarkedet, der Victoria møter en mystisk ung mann som skal vise seg å ha forbindelse med fortiden hennes. Snart må Victoria ta et farlig valg - tør hun å satse alt for å finne lykken? Vanessa Diffenbaughs roman er en rørende og medrivende historie om kjærlighet, håp, frykt og ufravikelig vilje - og den gir et fascinerende innblikk i det viktorianske blomsterspråket.

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.  Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.

Victoria ha paura del contatto fisico. Ha paura delle parole, le sue e quelle degli altri. Soprattutto, ha paura di amare e lasciarsi amare. C'è solo un posto in cui tutte le sue paure sfumano nel silenzio e nella pace: è il suo giardino segreto nel parco pubblico di Portero Hill, a San Francisco. I fiori, che ha piantato lei stessa in questo angolo sconosciuto della città, sono la sua casa. Il suo rifugio. La sua voce. È attraverso il loro linguaggio che Victoria comunica le sue emozioni più profonde. La lavanda per la diffidenza, il cardo per la misantropia, la rosa bianca per la solitudine. Perché Victoria non ha avuto una vita facile. Abbandonata in culla, ha passato l'infanzia saltando da una famiglia adottiva a un'altra. Fino all'incontro, drammatico e sconvolgente, con Elizabeth, l'unica vera madre che abbia mai avuto, la donna che le ha insegnato il linguaggio segreto dei fiori. E adesso, è proprio grazie a questo magico dono che Victoria ha preso in mano la sua vita: ha diciotto anni ormai, e lavora come fioraia. I suoi fiori sono tra i più richiesti della città, regalano la felicità e curano l'anima. Ma Victoria non ha ancora trovato il fiore in grado di rimarginare la sua ferita. Perché il suo cuore si porta dietro una colpa segreta. L'unico capace di estirparla è Grant, un ragazzo misterioso che sembra sapere tutto di lei. Solo lui può levare quel peso dal cuore di Victoria, come spine strappate a uno stelo. Solo lui può prendersi cura delle sue radici invisibili. Solo così il cuore più acerbo della rosa bianca può diventare rosso di passione.

Je li ruža uistinu samo ruža, ili se ljudi ipak mijenjaju? Krajnje dirljivi prvijenac Vanesse Diffenbaugh prati život Victorije Jones koja je s navršenih osamnaest godina prisiljena iseliti se iz sirotišta. Ogorčena i nepovjerljiva, Victoria otkriva jedini način izražavanja vlastitih osjećaja zaboravljenim jezikom cvijeća na kojemu, primjerice, kozja krv označuje predanost, a crvene ruže iskrenu ljubav. Zaposlivši se kao pomoćnica u jednoj cvjećarnici, Victoria upoznaje veletrgovca cvijećem koji bi mogao odigrati odlučujuću ulogu u njezinu prevladavanju tajna iz prošlosti. Hoće li prepoznati drugu priliku za sreću?

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.  Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers comes her much-anticipated new novel about young love, hard choices, and hope against all odds. For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children—Alex, now fifteen, and Luna, six—in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty’s parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life. Navigating this new terrain is challenging for Letty, especially as Luna desperately misses her grandparents and Alex, who is falling in love with a classmate, is unwilling to give his mother a chance. Letty comes up with a plan to help the family escape the dangerous neighborhood and heartbreaking injustice that have marked their lives, but one wrong move could jeopardize everything she’s worked for and her family’s fragile hopes for the future. Vanessa Diffenbaugh blends gorgeous prose with compelling themes of motherhood, undocumented immigration, and the American Dream in a powerful and prescient story about family.

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers comes her much-anticipated new novel about young love, hard choices, and hope against all odds. For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children—Alex, now fifteen, and Luna, six—in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty’s parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life. Navigating this new terrain is challenging for Letty, especially as Luna desperately misses her grandparents and Alex, who is falling in love with a classmate, is unwilling to give his mother a chance. Letty comes up with a plan to help the family escape the dangerous neighborhood and heartbreaking injustice that have marked their lives, but one wrong move could jeopardize everything she’s worked for and her family’s fragile hopes for the future. Vanessa Diffenbaugh blends gorgeous prose with compelling themes of motherhood, undocumented immigration, and the American Dream in a powerful and prescient story about family.