CHARACTER
The Secret Life of Sunflowersby Marta Molnar

Violet Velar

Violet Velar

Quick Facts

  • Role: Renowned New York artist; grandmother and mentor to Emsley Wilson
  • First appearance: Chapter 1; status: deceased after a third stroke
  • Key relationships: Daughter Anna Wilson, confidant and attorney Bram Dekker Sr., late-in-life companion Louis
  • Catalyst: Entrusts Emsley with a blue Tiffany box containing the diary and letters of Johanna Bonger, launching the novel’s investigation into Female Empowerment and Perseverance and Legacy, Art, and Preservation

Who They Are

Fiercely independent and defiantly alive, Violet is the story’s modern-day spark—an artist whose charisma doesn’t dim even after a debilitating stroke. She curates her own myth the moment Emsley enters her room: a “Monet-print silk robe” and glittering silver hair give her the grandeur of “a goddess in repose” (Chapter 1). The blue box she presses into Emsley’s hands becomes both a mystery and a mission statement: art should outlive suffering, and women should author their own narratives. Even after her death, Violet’s choices direct the plot and Emsley’s growth, turning personal memory into an inheritance of courage.

Personality & Traits

Violet’s personality reads like a manifesto: fearless, irreverent, and purposeful. She marries artistic eccentricity to a survivor’s discipline, turning audacity into a form of ethics—live boldly, give generously, and never let trauma dictate the terms of your life.

  • Bold and unconventional: She half-jokes about helping Emsley kill her cheating ex Trey and requests a carnival band and carousel for her funeral—humor and spectacle as control over life’s endings.
  • Indomitable and resilient: Post-stroke, she plans dessert “heists,” flirts with new romance, and sneaks to a hot tub. Her sunflower credo—“scrappy as hell”—mirrors how she thrives in “poor soil.”
  • Wise and philosophical: She reframes loss with precision: selling the family house doesn’t sell their love (Chapter 1). Her maxim “You succeed by not failing” (Chapter 3) turns perseverance into strategy, not sentiment.
  • Generous and altruistic: She funds an NYU scholarship and donates art profits (including to AIDS research), accepting conflict with her daughter as the price of living her values.
  • Protective and secretive: She shields her family from the truth about her assault and Emsley’s grandfather, absorbing generational pain so they don’t have to.

Character Journey

Violet’s arc unfolds in reverse—through absence. Her death in Chapter 7 converts her from force-of-nature grandmother into the story’s animating spirit, guiding Emsley through art, memory, and mystery. As Emsley reads and investigates, revelations recast Violet’s eccentricities as a survivor’s architecture: her independence, refusal to marry, and bristling distrust of men emerge not as mere quirks but as armor after the assault by Senator Wertheim (Chapter 13). She does not allow the assault to define her; she redefines herself—channeling rage and resilience into legacy. The painting Excalibur becomes a quiet thesis: a woman can pull her own sword from the stone, claiming power that no man bestows.

Key Relationships

  • Emsley Wilson: With Emsley, Violet is mentor, conspirator, and unconditional refuge—the one adult who sees Emsley’s risks as potential, not peril. By entrusting her with the blue box and the moral permission to live boldly, Violet engineers Emsley’s coming-of-age even after she’s gone.

  • Anna Wilson: Violet and Anna Wilson clash over what a “good” mother or life should look like. Anna reads Violet’s bohemian wandering as neglect—memories of being “lost” in museums and refused bailouts crystallize into resentment—while Violet mourns the narrowness of Anna’s conventional choices. Their distance becomes the cost of Violet’s fiercely guarded autonomy.

  • Bram Dekker Sr.: With Bram Dekker Sr., Violet chooses steadfast friendship over marriage, keeping her sovereignty while accepting loyal counsel. Bram’s devotion—both in life and as executor of her wishes—underscores how Violet inspired enduring love without surrendering her independence.

  • Louis: Violet’s late-life romance with Louis at the stroke center—complete with a forbidden hot-tub adventure—proves that desire, play, and risk remain vital to her identity. Even illness cannot dislodge her appetite for joy.

Defining Moments

Violet’s defining scenes distill her philosophy: turn fear into flair, grief into momentum, and art into inheritance.

  • Giving Emsley the Box (Chapter 1): The paint-splattered Tiffany’s box transfers both evidence (Johanna’s diary and letters) and agency. It sets Emsley’s quest in motion and asserts that truth—especially women’s truth—belongs in the light.
  • The “Lamborghini” Pep Talk (Chapter 5): Coaching Emsley before the auction reframes performance anxiety as performance art. Violet converts fear into velocity, teaching Emsley to treat risk as a road to drive, not a cliff to avoid.
  • Her Death (Chapter 7): Violet’s passing forces Emsley to live the lessons, not just quote them. Grief becomes the crucible in which Emsley tests Violet’s ethics of courage, generosity, and self-definition.
  • The Truth of Her Past (Chapter 13 & 31): Learning about the assault at the Vanderbilt party retrofits Violet’s life with devastating context. Her celibacy, mistrust, and control over her image become acts of reclamation—survival translated into sovereignty.

Essential Quotes

Each quote shows how Violet converts dark realities into luminous directives.

  • “If you want to murder that cheating boyfriend of yours, I’m in. I thought about it, Emsley. I can’t help you bury his body, or Diya’s, but I can provide you with an alibi.”
    — Violet to Emsley in Chapter 1
    This outrageous offer disarms Emsley’s shame with humor and loyalty. Violet refuses moral panic; she replaces it with solidarity, signaling that love can be both fierce and mischievously pragmatic.

  • “Our love for each other doesn’t live in that house, honey. Our memories won’t be included in the sale with the appliances.”
    — Violet to Emsley in Chapter 1
    She reframes possessions and place, divorcing memory from material anchors. The line prepares Emsley to let go without feeling faithless—and to value people over property.

  • “You let your smile shine from your soul. You let courage beam from your heart. The night is yours, honey. You drive this auction like it’s a Lamborghini.”
    — Violet to Emsley in Chapter 5
    Violet recasts performance as self-revelation: courage is not noise but radiance. The “Lamborghini” image transforms anxiety into speed and control, a ritual of claiming the room.

  • “Sunflowers are adaptable, for one. Seventy species. You plant them somewhere, and they’ll figure out how to grow. They’ll come up in the rich loam of rivers as easily as in arid, poor dirt. The worse the soil, the bigger they flower. They’re scrappy as hell, but they always look like stars.”
    — Violet to Emsley in Chapter 5
    A botanical lesson becomes a survival ethic. Violet locates beauty in adversity, insisting that harsh conditions can intensify bloom—and teaching Emsley to turn “poor soil” into a stage for brilliance.