The Blood of Flowers

The Blood of Flowers (2007) an Iranian historical novel by Anita Amirrezvani, follows a young woman who is a skilled rug designer, and the challenges she faces as she tries to live a life of her own making. Amirrezvani’s debut novel, it was highly acclaimed upon publication and received a nomination for the 2008 Orange Prize. Amirrezvani is the award-winning author of historical and literary fiction. She currently teaches at Sonoma State University and the California College of the Arts.

Readers never learn the name of the narrator in The Blood of Flowers. This is deliberate on Amirrezvani’s part, as she wants readers to think of all Iranian artists when they read the narrative. She is a teenage girl when the novel opens. Her mother calls her Joonam as a mark of affection, but it is not her real name.

The Blood of Flowers is set in seventeenth-century Persia. Joonam lives in a small Iranian village with her parents. She is content to work as an apprentice carpet marker. Although she is talented and her parents are very proud of her, her skills aren’t important. Only thirteen at the novel’s outset, she is already promised to an older Iranian boy; she knows she will be expected to stop working once she is married.



Life, however, doesn’t go according to plan for Joonam. Shortly before her arranged marriage takes place, a comet streaks across the Iranian skyline. Assuming this is a bad omen from the gods, the villagers panic. In the seventeenth century, unexpected events are always ominous. Joonam worries that her marriage won’t take place; she’s right.

Joonam’s father dies suddenly from a stroke. Her future husband’s family cancels the wedding because she no longer has a dowry to give them. Joonam and her mother are penniless, with no means of supporting themselves in the village. The money that Joonam makes as a carpet maker isn’t enough. She and her mother decide that they will see out the winter in the village and then make for the larger city of Isfahan.

Gostaham, the half-brother of Joonam’s father, lives in Isfahan. Very wealthy, he has more than enough money to support extra family members. Gostaham’s wife, Gordiyeh, isn’t happy that Joonam and her mother are staying with them. She is greedy and doesn’t want to spend money looking after people she doesn’t know well, even if they are family.



Gostaham is a talented color master at Shah’s carpet workshop. He doesn’t believe in teaching women how to work or make carpets, and he laughs when Joonam says she wants to work with him. However, he soon realizes that Joonam has talent, and she’ll make him rich. He teaches her everything from making precise knots to choosing rug colors; soon she is thriving.

One day, Gostaham lets her design her own rug. He is not happy with the rug when Joonam completes it, pointing out all its flaws. In a temper, Joonam rips the rug down from its frame, and she destroys it. Gostaham is incensed because she has wasted the material; Joonam begs him to let her stay. Joonam’s mother disciplines her for risking their security because she is too proud to correct her work.

Meanwhile, Fereydoon comes along. He fancies Joonam and offers to marry her. Joonam’s mother forbids her from accepting because it is a short-term contract, not a proper marriage. Joonam will be ruined if anyone finds out she has had this marriage. However, the contract pays well, and she can reimburse her uncle if she accepts it. Reluctantly, she marries Fereydoon.



Joonam’s marriage is miserable at first. Fereydoon doesn’t enjoy her company sexually, and Joonam finds the sex unsatisfying. She meets women at a temple who explain the art of lovemaking and how to tempt a man. Fereydoon is delighted with her progress. He decides to renew their contract a second time, but then doesn’t.

Joonam is shunned when Fereydoon takes a new wife. Fereydoon is willing to keep Joonam as a lesser wife, but there is a stigma attached to this. Joonam can’t stand being second best to this new, permanent wife, and she leaves Fereydoon. Fereydoon uses his influence to stop people from shopping at Shah’s. When Gostaham learns why, he throws Joonam and her mother onto the streets.

Joonam feels that her life is ruined. She hates being responsible for her mother’s shame and homelessness. Her mother encourages her to ask Gostaham for money to sustain them for a time, and he agrees after some cajoling. He doesn’t expect to ever see them again, or at least, he hopes he doesn’t. Armed with her own money, Joonam seeks out new opportunities.



Joonam visits Malekeh who works at Shah’s. Malekeh gives them a home for a time, as long as they can pay or contribute. Joonam graciously accepts, and she and her mother have a home at last. Soon, Joonam becomes a distinguished and highly sought-after carpetmaker in the city.