The Language of Flowers written by Vanessa Diffenbach

I read The Language of Flowers for my book club and it is a great example of why I love being in a book club. Once again, I probably would not have picked up this one to read on my own but I really enjoyed this unusual story about a baby girl (Victoria) who is abondoned by her birth mother when she is 3 weeks old The plot centers on Victoria's sad life growing up in the child welfare system. Young Victoria finds herself in and out of foster/group homes as her social worker (Meredith) tries very hard to find a family to adopt her.

As the story unfolds, we learn that if Victoria is not adopted by the time she turns 10 she will be classified as unadoptable by the state and will be placed in a group home until her 18th birthday. One of the pivotal points in this poignant story occurs when Meredith makes a final attempt to find the 9 year old Victoria a permanent family to adopt her. and places her with Elizabeth, who also had a difficult childhood and a "distant" mother. Elizabeth teaches Victoria about the "language of flowers", a method of communication used in the Victorian age in which every flower was assigned to a specific meaning. Eventually Victoria learns to communicate her feelings through the language of flowers. The plot is revealed as Diffenbach alternates between the present day (Victoria's 18th birthday) and flashbacks of Victoria's incredibly difficult life in the child welfare system. This technique entices the reader with just enough information to keep you engaged.

I was deeply vested in the characters and genuinely wanted to know what happened to them. Overall, The Language of Flowers is a well-written story that combines an unusual topic with interesting characters and a compelling plot that explores universal themes such as the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, and the human need for love, communication and connection.

"A Reliable Wife" written by Robert Goolrick

If you like Gothic novels, you will love this book! There is no mistaking this dark story for what it is, right from the opening page. The bleak, frozen landscape of winter in a small Wisconsin town, where inexplicable madness is rampant among the townspeople, sets the tone for a classic Gothic novel. Living in his castle-like estate, Ralph Truitt our tragic protagonist, places an ad in a Chicago newspaper for a "...reliable wife. Compelled by practical, not romantic reasons..." which is precisely what he gets (albeit not in the way he intended!). Catherine Land, a not so virtuous woman with a sordid past answers the ad and becomes Truitt's bride. Add to that mix, Truitt's relentless search for his estranged ne'er-do-well son Antonio, (from his first marriage) and an intricate plot peppered with plenty of Gothic twists and turns, including Catherine's plan to slowly poison her new husband, unravels.

A Reliable Wife is definitely a page-turner and will provide enough fodder for a solid book group discussion, and is a great example of the Gothic novel. I personally found myself growing weary of the sense of fatalism that typically defines the Gothic genre. The fatalistic tone is exemplified in this passage "Catherine Land.........set out to poison - slowly, with arsenic - the husband who loved her, whom she herself loved, to her surprise, the man who had saved her from a life of destruction and despair. Such things happened".

All in all, if you are interested in a chilling, dark, Gothic page-turner, go ahead and give A Reliable Wife a try!

"The Sister" written by Poppy Adams

The Sister is a tale of two sisters, vivacious Vivien and the very logical, lepidopterist, Virginia. Their complex relationship undergoes a dramatic metamorphosis, much like the moths that Virginia and her father study so intently. As told to us by Virginia the young sisters are inseparable, loving and carefree. Vivien is three years younger than Virginia, but she takes on the role of protecting her older sister.

Although we’re never quite sure why Virginia needs protection, there are many implications that she has some kind of disability – perhaps a developmental disorder on the autism spectrum. Clearly she has difficulty understanding and relating to people, including her family. By her own admission, Virginia much prefers the company of moths and the scientific process to the company of human beings & their incomprehensible emotions.

The family begins to unravel when Vivien “sheds her shell” and moves to London to begin a new life, leaving Virginia behind to deal with her mother’s alcoholism and her father’s absorption in his research. Virginia finds security and comfort in the order and rules of nature and scientific study but the secrets they keep are the catalyst for the dramatic turn of events at the end of the story. The sisters each have their own perception of reality, but what determines the truth? The Sister explores the theme of what constitutes reality and truth and led me to the question: is there such a thing as universal truth that transcends our individual realities?

Although it contained a bit too much information on the study of moths for my taste, I found The Sister to be a thought provoking and interesting read with enough complexity for a good book group discussion.