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QUESTIONS FROM READERS

Anita Amirrezvani answers readers' questions about the cover art for THE BLOOD OF FLOWERS, the possibility of writing novels centered on secondary characters, and the differences between modern carpets and those made during the 17th century.

Carol from Bear, DE: Would you ever return to your narrator's story, or would you prefer readers always to be left with their own dreams of what may have come into her future? Would you ever consider picking up Naheed's story and filling it out? Do you think her character has enough depth for a story of her own! ?

Anita Amirrezvani: You probably remember that my novel begins with the mother telling the heroine a tale of how her life was ideally expected to go, with an early marriage and seven sons. As we all know, life often throws us a few curves, and that's exactly what happens to my heroine. I decided to end the book with the heroine telling her own tale because it seemed a way of reclaiming her own story in her own voice. The folk tale that she tells is meant to reveal the kind of values that she now holds, and the ideal life that she imagines for herself with a loving partner. You probably noticed that the man in her folk tale is neither a user nor an abuser, but rather someone who sacrifices himself for the girl's well-being. Through the tale, I hoped to show the heroine's passage into maturity and a better life.

As for Naheed, I hadn't thought about telling her story separately, but it's an interesting idea and one that I will consider.


Mary from Carmel, IN: Will your next book also be set in your native Iran? Did you choose the cover? It is so intensely romantic and perfectly fits the story. An old adage says: "You can't tell a book by its cover." While I agree ! with that, I am drawn to books that have interesting covers, and in this case, the novel is just as intriguing.

Anita Amirrezvani: I'm glad you like the cover; I do, too. The design was done by Keith Hayes, who works for my publisher (Little, Brown). One thing I particularly like about it is that he chose a museum-quality Persian carpet for the background. It's called the Ardabil carpet and was completed in the year 1540 or so in northwest Iran. The carpet is currently in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the curators estimate that it took eight men more than three years to make. The carpet is huge --- 34 feet by 17 feet --- and is ! displayed under an enormous glass case. The carpet is illuminated on the hour just for a few minutes, and when the lights go on, people stream in to admire it. I highly recommend having a look if you're ever in London.

The woman on the cover is the photographer's wife. He tells me that he "volumized" her hair in Photoshop. I like the way both she and the cover have been transformed to look like a painting.

To answer your question about my next book --- yes, I intend to keep writing about Iran. The country has a 2,500-year history that isn't very well known in the West. Through the years, Iran has seen tremendous upheavals in politics and religion, and tremendous developments in the sciences and the arts. As a result, I don't think I'll ever run out of material, and that's a good feeling for a novelist.


Rebecca from Temple Terrace, FL: How do modern carpets differ from those of the 17th century? How do motifs vary from region to region and why? In the current Iranian theocracy, are the lives of women much the same as 400 years ago?

Anita Amirrezvani: Even today, Iranian craftsmen and women knot rugs on hand-strung looms in the time-honored traditional fashion. Recently, I read that an estimated five to eight million people are still involved in Iranian carpet production, including those who raise the sheep, knot the rugs, and sell them in the bazaars. However, some of the differences include the fact that today's wool is likely to be spun by machine rather than by hand, and today's dyes are likely to be synthetic rather than natural.

You are correct that motifs vary widely from region to region. For an expert view on this, I recommend P. R. J. Ford's ORIENTAL CARPET DESIGN, which discusses traditional motifs in carpets from many different parts of the world.

As for your question about women, Iran is in many ways quite a modern country. Iranian women don't have equal rights at the moment, but they still do almost everything you can imagine, ranging from being taxi drivers to human rights attorneys. While the characters in my book lived long before the rise of feminism anywhere in the world, real Iranian women in recent years have been adamant in fighting for their rights. For example, in 1979, women were quite involved in the demonstrations that ended 2,500 years of Iranian monarchy. Since 2006, they have organized an important effort called the Million Signatures Campaign, whose goal is to eliminate laws that discriminate against women.

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