Anahita, at 15, is to be married, once she completes weaving her wedding carpet, and the local khan himself has expressed interest in her.
Anahita, however, wants to become a master dyemaker, and wants nothing to do with the khan, a creepy man much older than her, who has had 4 previous wives die, and convinces her father and the village mullah to let her weave a riddle into her bridal carpet, and to let suitors compete to solve it, with the winner becoming her hsuband.
This book was lovely in parts, but it really dragged in others. I loved all the bits about the dye and the weaving, but all the riddles got to me after a while, and once you meet the main suitor characters, well, you won't be surprised at the end.
It felt a little predictable, as a love story, but the glimpses of life as a nomadic Iranian in the early 20th c were very cool, and Anahita, despite being something of a selfish dolt, was a very interesting protagonist, and this book had nice flavor to it, especially after so many US suburban sex dramas (Harmless, Story of a Girl, Twisted, etc etc ad infinitum).
Quality: 8 Popularity: 8 Overall: 16 YA
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