Blood of Flowers

Blood of Flowers
Anita Amirrezvani
Little Brown and Company
ISBN: 0316065765
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary
Reviewed by Kevin Joseph

Set in seventeenth-century Persia and narrated by an eighteen-year-old girl, Blood of Flowers would appear to have all the earmarks of a slow-moving period piece geared for an audience of women. Not so. This first novel turns out to be a work of art every bit as dazzling as the Persian rugs designed and knotted by its unnamed heroine.
The story begins with the appearance of an ominous comet in the skies, portending a year of ill fortune for our narrator, who is due to be married in the coming months. Sure enough, her father suddenly dies, leaving the girl and her mother without the dowry required to attract a worthy suitor. Facing poverty, mother and daughter take up residence as servants in the household of an uncle who makes Persian rugs on commission for wealthy patrons.
A self-taught village rug-maker herself, the girl wins her uncle’s confidence, becoming an apprentice of sorts and learning the intricacies required to fashion city carpets of the highest quality. But when she’s forced to accept a three-month marriage contract to a wealthy horse trader, whose interest is hedonistic and short-term, the girl is caught in an untenable situation in which her family’s financial security and her self-respect come into violent conflict. As she matures from a headstrong young girl to a pragmatic woman with a feminist bent, our heroine struggles to defy the odds and forge a future for herself and her mother in this male-dominated society.
It’s a tribute to the author’s methodical research, rich descriptive detail and knack for the cadence of good storytelling that this reader found himself completely transported into the novel’s exotic world. Like the rugs for which Persia is famous, the structure of Blood of Flowers brings together its motifs in a simple but timelessly-elegant manner. If you enjoy novels like the Kite Runner, you’ll love this book.