The Blood of Flowers
By Anita Amirrezvani
Read by Shohreh Aghdashloo Hachette Audio, (2007)
An Unabridged Recording on 11 CDs
ISBN 10: 1-59483-912-3
ISBN 13: 978-1-59483-912-2
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewed by Auggie Moore - June 25, 2007
The Blood of Flowers is lavish, and richly detailed coming-of-age story set in 17th-century Persia (modern day Iran), which was written by Anita Amirrezvani. The story is told from the viewpoint of an unnamed young girl who is the focus of this tale, and most of the story is told in the first person. As the story opens the young girl is living in a remote farming village, when her life is tragically disrupted when her father, Isma'il, dies unexpectedly. Although only fourteen, the girl was looking forward to being married, but with her father's death these plans are scrapped. Impoverished and heartbroken, the girl and her mother move to the distant city of Isfahan. There she goes to work for her uncle Gostaham, weaving rugs in his workshop. The girl's talents in this arena are apparent from the beginning, and Gostaham breaks with tradition to train her to become a master weaver of rugs. However, in this time and place, women are not allowed to weave outside the home and if anyone were to find out that she was working in her uncle's workshop, they would both face dire repercussions. Almost as bad, the girl and her mother find themselves beholden to Gostaham's wife, who treats them like servants rather than family.
Despite the precarious situation that the girl and her mother find themselves in, the young heroine finds much in the city to delight her. More important, she is enthralled with the dyes, yarns, and nature of her work. Her situation, however, goes from bad to worse when, encouraged by her relatives, she enters into a disastrous and unusual marriage with a wealthy business man. Because she has no dowry, and no prospects, the girl is in no place to bargain, so she enters into a three-month, renewable marriage contract with her new husband. Each time he renews the contract she receives a payment for her services. While not ideal, the girl accepts this arrangement until the business man marries her best friend, at which point she precipitously ends their relationship, leaving her in an even worse situation than she began.
How the girl deals with all these problems, and finds her way through the malecentric world that she lives in, is the heart of the story. The girls spirit, and the haunting nature of The Blood of Flowers makes this both an uplifting and thrilling story. In addition, the story is infused with historic details and cultural aspects that serve to create a finely wrought backdrop for this tale. As well, Amirrezvani has interwoven a treasure trove of Persian tales into the story line. Combined, The Blood of Flowers paints a fascinating picture of 17th century Persian society, while at the same time delivering a well paced and gripping coming-of-age story.
The audio edition of this book is eloquently read by Shohreh Aghdashloo, and it includes a brief conversation with the book's author.
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