Fresh Water for Flowers

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-12

Chapters 13-20

Chapters 21-42

Chapters 43-56

Chapters 57-76

Chapters 77-89

Chapters 90-94

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Violette’s Burial Registers

Although Violette takes over the role of cemetery keeper from Sasha, maintaining her set of burial registers is a practice unique to her alone. They represent her taking the opportunity to begin a new life and leave her mark on it, approaching it in her own way.

Violette was psychologically unable to attend the burial of her daughter, and at that time, there were no social media or recording devices to capture the event. Although she does not regret staying away from the service, she does wish that she had been able to have some record of it. This leads her to begin recording the seemingly pedestrian details of the funerals she witnesses in her cemetery: weather, decorations, religious or secular practices, as well as the stories that are shared. She believes this will create a memory cache for anyone unable to attend the burials of loved ones, just as she was unable to attend Léonine’s.

This practice is notable because no loved one ever reaches out to view the record of a previous burial. While it is not overtly stated, it is implied that these records, intended for the peace of mind of others, are only ever seen by Violette alone. Throughout the novel, excerpts from Violette’s registers appear along with dates and observations; however, the only time these stories are shared with another person is during Violette’s interaction with Julien. In this case, it’s not a story of someone he knows but a route to understanding more about his mother. When he borrows her register, she remarks that it’s the first time one of the books has ever left her cottage. This shows the connection that is growing between them. By the end, he contributes Irène’s diaries to become part of Violette’s records. This ties into the theme about Violette’s sense of Responsibility to the Dead. The fact that these stories stay mostly between her and the deceased suggests she records their burials as a way to honor them and keep them alive, much in the same way she maintains the abandoned graves.

Philippe’s Motorbike

Philippe’s motorbike is his most precious possession and a symbol of his free spirit—but also of the distance growing between him and Violette. When they first meet, she sees it as an extension of his wild, seductive personality. The first day they go home together is the only time the reader ever sees them share the motorbike, and it may be the only time Violette ever rides it: “No sooner had I said yes than we were on his motorbike, a too-big helmet on my head and his hand on my left knee” (46). This contrasts with their relationship later, when Philippe only ever keeps one helmet on hand and always goes off alone.

He attempts to share it with his daughter, Léonine, but this too only serves to create more distance between them: “He would put her behind the engine and go once around the block of houses, very slowly, to entertain her for ten minutes. And then, as soon as he accelerated a little, she was scared, she screamed” (166). As Philippe’s relationship with his family falls apart, the motorbike takes him away for longer and longer periods. Violette recognizes that he keeps the bike instead of investing in a car so that it remains a solo activity, and he never has to bring his family away with him. As Philippe begins his rocky road to healing his spirit, working in the auto shop with Françoise, it’s his motorbike that grounds him and gives him a healthy and fulfilling outlook for his energy and pain.

Later in the novel, the motorbike grows to become a metonym of Philippe himself. While exploring their neighborhood, Violette comes across his bike outside a house and instantly feels his presence: “Philippe Toussaint’s motorbike was parked about a hundred meters away from me. My heart started beating as if I were a little girl who didn’t have her parents’ permission to be out of the house” (395). This association is also seen when Violette first hears news of Philippe’s death; his name is not mentioned, but the deceased is referred to as a biker, giving the reader the pivotal detail that connects the event to the character. In Philippe’s view, this death wasn’t a betrayal on behalf of his beloved bike but a mercy. His motorbike, which already carried him through so much, becomes his way out—and his way back to his daughter.

Flowers

As the title suggests, flowers are an important part of the story, literally and metaphorically. The title itself, Fresh Water for Flowers in English and Changer l'eau des fleurs (“changing the flowers’ water”) in French, is echoed when Violette begins to emerge from a period of darkness: “I finally returned to the garden. Finally gave fresh water to the flowers” (426). This image works on several levels. By bringing new water to the flowers, Violette is offering the garden renewed growth and acknowledging the beauty of the turning year; she is also “watering” her own spirit and creating new opportunities for her own growth.

This isn’t the only time the image of flowers is linked to something greater. After taking on the role of cemetery keeper, Violette sells flowers to mourners and visitors. She also plants them around graves that are no longer cared for. One woman acknowledges their significance by saying, “These flowers, they’re a bit like ladders up to heaven” (45). Despite Violette’s insistence that she doesn’t believe in the spirit world, she illustrates her romantic streak by helping two separated lovers come together after death. She takes a cutting from a lavender bush planted above a man’s grave and transplants it onto the grave of his lover, who was buried far away; the flower takes root, and the two graves are forever joined in spirit by their flowers.

Irène’s diaries also show that flowers were an important part of her life. She gave up her current job to devote a life to horticulture, particularly cultivating roses: “She also learned how to create new varieties of rose in tones of carmine, raspberry, grenadine, and ‘maiden’s blush,’ all while thinking of Gabriel Prudent’s hands” (141). This shows her artistic and sensual streak, which she felt she couldn’t nurture in her role as a hairdresser. This same sensuality exists in Sasha, who found new life in his gardening after losing his family. Through making things grow, he was able to experience a rebirth of his own. All of these characters see their relationship with flowers as something more, and they use that relationship—consciously or unconsciously—to nurture and heal their spirits.