Thank you to Pauline and Elizabeth for your reviews for Books with a 'Feel Good' factor. Just what we need for the dark days before Christmas. 

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbough

A very moving and sad story but with a happy ending!

 

It tells of the struggle of a child abandoned at birth growing up in care.  She finds it very hard to accept people because she feels they only have her because nobody else wants her. She finds it very hard and although she is looked after by some kind people she can’t accept their love, not trusting that they mean it.

 

She goes through some very difficult times and her only answer is to run away. Having been known to be wild and cause trouble she is passed from one home to another before ending up in a House for children like her -not wanted- this house toughens them even more, always needing to look after themselves and trying to be top-dog as opposed to being bullied.

 

Victoria finds her love in flowers, in one of her places of care. By learning their names and meanings she creates an A –Z file. She decides to ‘disappear’ when she reaches the age of 18 and she has to leave the House, rather than have people in authority trying to help her find a place to live and work etc. She lives rough and finds scraps on cafe tables left by families to eat.

 

Victoria comes upon a flower shop and hangs about for a while outside hoping for some work but not knowing how to go about it.  Against all odds Victoria eventually is taken under the wing of the flower shop owner. At first it was to help her at market carrying heavy buckets of flowers at weekends, in fact making use of her really and not showing any sort of care for her – Victoria was more used to this than kindness and found it was more comfortable to her!

 

The shop lady soon finds out though how clever Victoria is with choosing flowers and making up wonderful bouquets that have meanings associated with the flowers. Customers begin to ask for her to do their flowers!

 

It is cleverly written and has a lot more to it than I have related! The story makes you realise just how people can achieve so much from such sad beginnings when they really want to.

 

A lovely read and one that I would highly recommend.

Pauline

The Humans by Matt Haig

This brilliant book has inspired Elizabeth to write this:

LOCAL GLENS

 

This small energetic waterfall

tumbling down Summerhill glen

rushing every which way

who knows where or when

as it reaches the sea shore

disappearing into white flecked waves

gone from our sight forever more

off to distant shores

These words are quite clear sighted but what a complicated lot we humans are! After reading Matt Haig's book, it occurred to me that we seem to be eternally seeking something, but are not altogether sure what. During the search, we can lose sight of the simplicity of life, by making things more difficult and deeper than necessary. The alien in the book, (who became Andrew) after much soul searching realised that the over riding fact of life is the need for love and companionship.

The 97 pieces of advice he left for Gulliver were so basic and clear. In our rush to achieve that which the world expects us to do, we miss out on the minutia of real life. Do we need - or should I say - did we need to split an atom? Journey to distant stars and planets instead of first finding out about ourselves and this planet we inhabit? So, if you can't read the whole book, which would be a shame, make sure that you read the 97 pieces of advice as they are just as amazing.

 

Elizabeth