Blurb:

This is the story of one lost poem, two great rivers, and three remarkable lives – all connected by a single drop of water.

*****

In the ruins of Nineveh, that ancient city of Mesopotamia, there lies hidden in the sand fragments of a long-forgotten poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In Victorian London, an extraordinary child is born at the edge of the dirt-black Thames. When his brilliant memory earns him a spot as an apprentice at a printing press, the world opens up far beyond the slums and across the seas.

In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a Yazidi girl living by the River Tigris, waits to be baptised. The ceremony is cruelly interrupted, and soon she and her grandmother must journey across war-torn lands in the hope of reaching the sacred valley of their people.

In 2018 London, broken-hearted Zaleekhah, a hydrologist, moves to a houseboat on the Thames to escape the wreckage of her marriage – until an unexpected connection to her homeland changes everything.

A dazzling feat of storytelling from one of the greatest writers of our time that spans centuries, continents and cultures, entwined by rivers, rains, and waterdrops.

Review:

I’ve heard a lot about Elif Shafak, but There Are Rivers In The Sky is the first of her novels that I’ve read. It won’t be my last – she’s an incredible writer whose way with words is amazing and immediately transported me to the scenes in the novel, across four different time frames. I loved the references to the water cycle which were extremely poetic.

The different time frames are each characterised by a different character: Arthur in the nineteenth century, Narin in 2014 and Zaleekhah in 2018. I loved the in depth insight into each of the characters and I became fascinated by their lives. I really wanted to know how such contrasting characters would be connected.

There Are Rivers In The Sky is not as fast paced as the novels I usually read, but nevertheless the emotion comes through every part of the story. Elif Shafak explores some quite upsetting themes in this novel, but I was interested to see in her author’s note that some of her characters and their stories are inspired by real people and historical events. Her research is impeccable and it provides extra depth to the novel.

There Are Rivers In The Sky is available from Amazon.