Anita Amirrezvani The Blood of Flowers

The Blood of Flowers

Anita Amirrezvani

Little, Brown, Jun 2007, $23.99

ISBN: 9780316065764

Centuries ago in Persia, the fourteen year old girl enjoyed her life; raised by caring parents she knows she will marry within a year. However, when the comet crossed the sky the villagers knew misfortune was coming soon as that is an omen of bad things. The teenage girl learns first hand when her beloved father Isma'il dies in a thresher accident. Her doting mother Maheen grieves her loss. She and her daughter leave the village to move into the home as servants to male relative, Gostaham, a master carpet-maker weaving for the Shah.

Her Uncle Gostaham allows her entry into his workshop where he lets her learn the trade from him, but warns her that females are not allowed to weave outside the home. Wealthy Fereydoon wants her, but cannot make her his wife as she is beneath him so they agree to a three-month, renewable contract. However, when Fereydoon marries her best friend, she angrily ends their relationship, which leads to her and her mom becoming homeless. Over time Gostaham takes her back in and soon afterward she opens up an all female carpet-making workshop catering to the Shah's harem.

This is an incredible work historical fiction that brings to life Persia from the eyes of a young female (told mostly in the first person by her) struggling to survive in a male owned world. The unnamed woman is a terrific protagonist, who through trials and tribulations dreams of becoming a carpet-maker for the Shah although she knows that can never happen. Anecdotes and stories within stories add depth that will elate an exuberant audience who will feel they rode a magic caret ride back several centuries ago to Persia.

Harriet Klausner