The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani

To spare everyone from only having to read reviews of books I read, Karen Hornberger offered to let me steal reviews of hers from Goodreads to post here. If you’d like to add a review, email me at editor@newsovercoffee.com

I’m forwarding it from an email update I received, hopefully it will render well on the site!

11/17 Khornberger gave 5 stars to: The Blood of Flowers: A Novel by Anita Amirrezvani status: Read in November, 2009 I LOVED this book!!! This was recommended to me by a friend and I owned it in our library and remembered that the reviews were good - so I chose it as my next book. I was going to text my friend with little comments along the way; it didn't happen because I could only really put the book down when I absolutely had to. This is the story of a young girl in Persia whose fate changes through the death of her father. The author beautifully tells the heartbreaking story of the girl and her mother and the hardships they face in trying to find an honorable place for themselves. The two go to live with an uncle and it becomes a Cinderella story of sorts where they are not received as equals and must place pride to the side in order to survive. A contract for marriage comes in for the girl but it is a contract for a sigheh, a marriage contract that is renewable every three months, and not a permanent marriage. The girl is sold into the sigheh and fights each day to remain in a position of honor. Remaining honorable while remaining true to herself becomes impossible and she takes chances which have devastating consequences. Anita Amirrezvani weaves a spellbinding tale that is truly beautiful. In the endnotes, she states that it took her 9 years to write the novel. The result is a powerful novel which is on my shelf of all time favorites. I've recommended the book in the week since completing it and each person has loved it equally and finished it in a matter of days.

Posted via email from Ross Nunamaker