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The Language of Flowers Gift Book

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Although the practice filtered through the social classes, it was primarily popular with women of the privileged classes – a demographic that, while in a position of financial privilege, was still regarded as inferior to its male counterpart. In a time when women were not encouraged to be outspoken, these floral accessories allowed them to communicate with their peers, offering a means for them to speak out without impeding their societal status. The Language of Flowers is a beautiful little book, and a bit of a curiosity. Dating from 1913, it was never intended for publication, but the inscription by the author, or "father", makes it clear that it was compiled as a personal gift to his wife, or "mother", on her birthday. It looks very quaint, oldfashioned and nostalgic, and of course, unique.

The Language of Flowers is a story about Victoria, now a young woman, who was recently emancipated from the court system at 18. She struggles with feelings of abandonment and low self-esteem, as a result of a series of events from her past, stemming from growing up as an orphan. She lives in San Francisco and works in a flower shop. She has no friends, limited relationships, and initially, pretty limited human interaction. Without directly stating this, it becomes clear that she’s afraid of getting close to people, for fear of hurting them as she expects she will yet again, be a disappointment. I also loved the message and the moral of the story that is the importance of encouraging others with nice and positive words in other to help others to grow and bloom beautifully, even to those that may look strange and different to you, which also teaches the concept of kindness. The ending wrapped up so well and left me with the most satisfying feels. Just what I needed right now. I highly recommend it.Nonetheless, the memories of those floral customs, so deeply woven into Victorian culture, still resonated; floriography still permeated literature, ensuring the tradition was always in the periphery. Most notably, floriography plays a key role in Edith Wharton's 1920 novel The Age of Innocence, set in the Gilded Age of New York. The Language of Flowers is an unusually wide-ranging anthology exploring the richly symbolic expressiveness of flowers through poems from around the world and across the ages. This is such a beautiful and very sweet story!. It tells about a lone bumblebee named Beatrice who was adopted by the flowers at the meadow where they let drink from their nectars, let her sleep on their leaves and even taught them their own unique and special languages, 'the languages of the flowers! that consist of uttering some positive and nice words to them which in turn helps them grow and bloom beautifully!. Because of that believe I do not feel any reservations to rate the second half of this book only with two stars in contrast to my four star expectation in the beginning. First of all, thank you Quarto Publishing Group-Wellfleet Press for giving me the opportunity to read this review copy. This is a very beautifully illustrated book. Even the book's cover is gorgeous. I admit that i was enticed by the cover and of course by the interesting details and descriptions of the book.

Centred around an upper class couple's imminent marriage, Wharton's story explores the intricacies of societal mores in 1870s New York, a salacious landscape of gossip. Wharton was able to tap into the complexities of high society through an understanding of the era's traditions. Consequently, the use of flowers plays an important role in the narrative, with the character of May always sporting white blooms. Victoria was not a likable young girl and she did unforgivable harm to people, which she also had to forgive herself for. The word 'hate' came easily to her, but it would take a wise woman to teach her that hate can be passionate, disengaged, dislike, but also fear. Elizabeth taught her that her behavior was a choice, not who she was. My favorite part about paging through was perhaps a bit shallow, but feasting my eyes on the artwork. I may or may not have doodled a few of my favorites! The illustrations are vibrant and charming, which perfectly matches the whimsical vibe. It feels like a book you would find in a sunlit, fairy tale cottage. Jobes, Gertrude (1962). Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore, and Symbols. New York: The Scarecrow Press.We all know what red roses symbolise, but how about other flowers? White lilies, perhaps, or French marigolds? You might beware of giving your loved one a bunch of lavender, for instance, as it symbolises distrust. And a wallflower has nothing to do with being excluded, or shyness, as you might expect. It is a symbol of "fidelity in adversity". How about: “He sat in a chair. She pulled her feet beneath her. He slumped over in exhaustion. She bent over in pain. She curled herself underneath the bush.” This book is beautifully written, some writers just have the ability to connect words in such a way that it almost feels like harmony, poetry. Prose!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Wellfleet Press for this book in exchange for an honest review. In J. K. Rowling's 1997 novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Professor Severus Snape uses the language of flowers to express regret and mourning for the death of Lily Potter, his childhood friend and Harry Potter's mother, according to Pottermore. [15] Such poignant personalisation is part of a cultural foundation we all share. The tradition of floriography has always been there, but these days is a shadow of its former self – many know that a bouquet of roses symbolises romance, for example, but few know why. We might not perceive certain stems as positive or negative as the Victorians did, but we do still know that certain blooms better suit certain occasions. An understanding of flowers' meanings, however, can help us progress from the simplicity of sending a bouquet based on only its beauty to tapping into a deeper and more nuanced emotional intimacy.

The Language of Flowers: An Alphabet of Floral Emblems (1857)

When I saw this book listed on Netgalley, I knew I had to request it. I absolutely love the flower language and the symbolism of plants in general - so this seemed perfect. I am happy to say that this book was just what I had in mind. The characters are like a beautiful bouquet of flowers and Vanessa Diffenbaugh weaves a moving story here with the bonds between damage Victoria and the characters. Each brought some emotional conflict to Victoria while also bringing something heartwarming to the story. Victoria stole my heart and, left me heartbroken with her self-destructive ways. Victoria’s foster mother, Elizabeth, warmed my heart with her love, how she always saw the beauty in Victoria and her commitment to her. I rooted for each bond between the characters to bloom and fear the storms that threatened them. Eriksson, Katarina. "Ophelia's Flowers and Their Symbolic Meaning". Huntington Botanical. Archived from the original on 2020-11-09 . Retrieved 2013-05-31. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL ( link) The Language of Flowers is one of my favorite books and ever since reading it I've wanted to learn more about the historical symbolic meaning of flowers. Dietz spent twenty years compiling the data for this book! I admire her dedication to creating such a comprehensive resource. Additionally, it is a remarkably beautiful book; almost each entry has an accompanying illustration and the layout design is perfection. The problems I have with this are that there isn’t any reason for any of the people who help this girl to want to help her. She snarls and sulks and is so hard and distant that I was left wondering why any of these people wanted to be around her let alone assist her. No one knows her sad/bitter/hostile history and she isn't talking so why should they feel anything for her?

I need to stress that I actually have thought maybe it's me, maybe I have just not enough stomach lining and empathy for the broken mind of someone with a devastating childhood. The author information at the end of the book mentions that Vanessa Diffenbaugh has personal first-hand experience with raising foster kids. Apparently she gave home to one or more. After reading the book I do not question that at all. But when I compare my reading experience of The Language of Flowers to that of other stories featuring difficult or hard-to-like main characters, I am sure that a truely skillful author can make me feel and ache and root for any protagonist, no matter how strange or evil. I have just finished reading Froi of the Exiles (yes, it is Fantasy, I know). Fact is, when I was reading the volume preceeding it, I would have never guessed Melina Marchetta would get me to like him. Now I love him fiercely. Maybe his personal growth is fantastical, unrealistic, but maybe it is simply magic. The kind of magic only the best authors can evoke in a reader's mind. My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group - Wellfleet Pressfor a temporary digital edition via NetGalley of ‘The Complete Language of Flowers: A Definitive and Illustrated History” by by S. Theresa Dietz in exchange for an honest review. Sadly I will keep this review short because, according to my personal opinion only, the negatives greatly outweight the positives in this book. However,there are a few parts of this book that is not to my liking. But first i will list a few points that i like about this book. I find some of the facts and info stated in the folklores and facts section to be quite interesting like for example how the Hibiscus called the Shoe Flower is named so as the petals can be used to shine shoes and in the Pacific Islands, a red Hibiscus flower is worn by women as a sign of their interests, if worn behind the left ear means she desires a lover, if worn behind the right ear, means she already has a lover, and if worn behind both ears means she wants another one!. Or the story about wild barley,how in the medieval times, a type of divination using cakes made of wild barley was used to determine guilt or innocence known as alphitomancy, if there was a group of suspected criminals, all of them were fed with the cakes or bread and supposedly the person who got indigestion was the guilty party!. symbol - indicating a toxic plant of course. Under that, are listed other scientific names and a plethora of common names. There are also symbolic meanings, color meanings (if there are any), possible powers and folklore and facts. There are also featured lovely, colorful, illustrations for every flower.

I love flowers although my knowledge of them is fairly limited, and I really liked this story, where flowers played a central role. My only quirk is that the story ends too abruptly for i was hoping for the ending to be folded up more gently and tightly.

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