Set in seventeenth-century Iran, THE BLOOD OF FLOWERS is the powerful and haunting story of a young girl's journey from innocence to adulthood. The novel begins in the 1620s in a remote village where the narrator (whose name, in the Iranian storytelling tradition, we are never to know) lives with her mother and rug-maker father. On the sudden death of her father our heroine and her mother fall upon hard times and are forced to travel to the bustling, beautiful, exotic city of Isfahan where relatives take them in. Everything is new: the grudging charity of her aunt, the encouragement of her uncle, one of the finest carpet-makers in the world, who begins to teach her his craft, the treacherous friendship of the daughter of rich neighbours. And there's an adventure ahead which will introduce her to the sensual side of life as well as to the cruelty of betrayal and rejection before she finds her way to contentment and possibly, even, to happiness, in a world full of contrasts and dangers.
At the age of fourteen, a young woman in 17th-century believes she will be married within the year. But when her beloved father dies, collapsing in the field where he works with the other men from their village, there is no hope for a dowry. Alone and penniless, she and her grieving mother are forced to sell the brilliant turquoise rug the young woman has woven,meant, of course, for her married life, to pay for their journey to Isfahan. There they will work as servants for her uncle Gostaham, a rich rug designer in the court of the Shah, and be lorded over by Gostaham's wife. Despite her lowly station, the young woman blossoms as a brilliant weaver of carpets, a rarity in a craft dominated by men. But while her artistic gift flourishes, her prospects for a happy marriage grow dim. Forced into a secret marriage with a man who will never take her as his first wife, the young woman is faced with a daunting decision: forsake her own dignity, or risk everything she has in an effort to maintain it.
The Blood of Flowers was spellbinding and really took you to 17th century Persia. The descriptions of the process of rug making was very interesting and the colors and patterns the characters used sound gorgeous. I loved the idea of the girl's ''secret marriage" and had me holding my breath every time her marriage contract was up for renewal; especially since that was both her and her mother's bread and butter and earned themselves their keep in the Uncle's home. Although, I was extremely surprised to learn that when the "husband" did choose a first wife it was some very close to his mistress which caused conflict between the two women and led to the girl's decision to leave the marriage and try to better her life and started anew. This was such a fulfilling novel with surprises and twists behind every corner.
Reading updates
-
Started reading
-
9 January, 2008:
Finished reading
-
9 January, 2008:
Reviewed