Fresh Water for Flowers

This final section contains the climax and denouement of the events that brought the characters to this moment. Philippe decides to abandon his search and finally give Violette the life she deserves after putting one last piece into place. This is the final clue to the puzzle and the one that breaks Philippe’s life wide open. He realizes he can never go back, so he disappears—bringing the story full circle to where it began. In the present day, Violette realizes she must choose between a life with Julien or a life without him. She experiences a moment of clarity, but it takes her in the opposite direction: toward connection with others. The closest Philippe comes to this is after he receives Violette’s letter and decides to do better for Léonine. Tragically, this decision comes too late—after his daughter’s death—and consequently manifests in suicide. Though this choice cannot undo the damage he caused, it gives the reader a glimpse of the man he could have been—and might still be in the afterlife with his daughter. Thus, all the disparate narrative threads finally come together as a whole.

The last two chapters serve as an epilogue that reveals who the characters have become and where they are heading next. Violette has embraced her new beginning, allowing the simplicity of love to carry her away from the trauma of her past. While her life with Julien does not erase any of her difficult experiences, she learns that the past and future can exist within her in harmony. Finally, the reader is given a chance to say goodbye to Cédric, Nono, Irène and Gabriel, and Sasha through Violette’s thoughts, knowing they are all embracing life in any way they can.

Finally, with its juxtaposition of a wedding and a funeral, the final chapter rounds off the novel’s consideration of mortality and love. The two have been intertwined throughout the novel (e.g., in Violette’s comparison of her ghost costume to a wedding dress), underscoring the continuities between life and death. Ultimately, the novel suggests that The Spiritual Versus Material World is a false dichotomy.