the blood of flowers by anita amirrezvani

I was small enough to see under Hajj Ali's big white beard, which looked like a tuft of desert scrub.

Everyone was looking upward at the stars, their chins pointing toward the sky, their faces grave. My parents and I stood near the old cypress, the only tree in our village, which was decorated with strips of cloth marking people's vows. The evening he returned, the people of my village began assembling outside to listen to the predictions for the months ahead. Hajj Ali, the most learned man in our village, traveled to Isfahan to fetch a copy of the chief astronomer's almanac so we would know what calamities to expect. Night after night, as it crawled across our skies spraying its cold white seeds of sorrow, we tried to decipher the fearsome messages of the stars. It was brighter than any comet we had ever seen, and more evil. In the spring of the year that I was supposed to be married, a comet launched itself over the skies of my village. Forced into a secret marriage to a wealthy man, the young woman finds herself faced with a daunting decision: forsake her own dignity, or risk everything she has in an effort to create a new life. But while her talent flourishes, her prospects for a happy marriage grow dim. With nowhere else to go, they are forced to sell the brilliant turquoise rug the young woman has woven to pay for their journey to Isfahan, where they will work as servants for her uncle, a rich rug designer in the court of the legendary Shah Abbas the Great.ĭespite her lowly station, the young woman blossoms as a brilliant designer of carpets, a rarity in a craft dominated by men. But when her beloved father dies, she and her mother find themselves alone and without a dowry. In 17th-century Iran, a 14-year-old woman believes she will be married within the year. A sensuous and richly-imagined historical novel that centers on a skilled young carpet weaver, her arranged marriage, and her quest for self-determination in 17th-century Persia.

The blood of flowers by anita amirrezvani