Many flowers were given meanings during the Victorian era and people used them to send messages such as red roses meaning love. (Obviously I didn't know any flower meanings as I carried yellow roses in my wedding which mean jealousy or infidelity) Anyway, the meanings of flowers are how the main character of the book communicates. Victoria was in foster care since birth and has gone through many placements, none of which worked out. She is a flawed character and the book is told through her perspective.
The book begins as she turns 18 and becomes "emancipated" from the system ie: booted out onto the street. She is supposed to go to a group transitional home, but doesn't stay and becomes another homeless person in San Francisco. The story is her life story told in bits interspersed with her current story. It is interesting. I thought that the author did a good job on her lack of interpersonal skills, mental health issues of abandonment and mistrust. I really felt that the author should have made her older when she went into foster care. Babies are the least likely to go through numerous placements. Caucasion infants would quickly find permanent placement in an adoptive home or permanent foster home. That being said, the book really is an indictment of the foster care system. San Francisco is indeed teeming with homeless people and that issue won't go away on its own. Despite the "happy ending", I see her needing mental health services in the future as well as the medical insurance she doesn't have.
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