The Blood of Flowers

In rural seventeenth-century Iran, a spirited village girl approaches the age of marriage, only to find her destiny shattered after a comet blazes ominously across the desert sky. On the death of her beloved father, the young woman and her distraught mother are forced into a difficult new life in the fabled city of Isfahan. Taken in as house servants by her uncle Gostaham, a well-to-do carpet designer and his demanding wife, the two women confront an unforgiving world.

When the girl blossoms as a brilliant maker of carpets under her uncle’s tutelage, the future brightens. But disaster strikes again when an impetuous act results in her disgrace, forcing her into a secret marriage. If she is to thrive, she must risk the family’s reputation and rely on her artistic genius and her extraordinary will, to save herself and her mother.

Anita Amirrezvani

was born in Tehran and raised in San Francisco. For ten years she was a staff dance critic at newspapers in the Bay Area. She has received fellowships from the National Arts Journalism Program, the NEA’s Arts Journalism for Dance and Hedgebrook. She worked on The Blood of Flowers for nine years, during which time she made three research trips to Iran. She lives in Northern California.