There Are Rivers in the Sky: A novel
From the Booker Prize finalist, author of The Island of Missing Trees, an enchanting new tale about three characters living along two great rivers, all connected by a single drop of water.
"Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf. Make place for her in your heart too. You won't regret it."—Arundhati Roy, winner of the Booker Prize
In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.
In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur’s only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums, and one book in particular catches his interest: Nineveh and Its Remains.
In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a ten-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family’s ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.
In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.
A dazzling feat of storytelling, There Are Rivers in the Sky entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop which remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and harbinger of death, rivers—the Tigris and the Thames—transcend history, transcend fate: “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”
"Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf. Make place for her in your heart too. You won't regret it."—Arundhati Roy, winner of the Booker Prize
In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.
In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur’s only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums, and one book in particular catches his interest: Nineveh and Its Remains.
In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a ten-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family’s ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.
In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.
A dazzling feat of storytelling, There Are Rivers in the Sky entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop which remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and harbinger of death, rivers—the Tigris and the Thames—transcend history, transcend fate: “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”
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Community Reviews
This was an audiobook read for me with a great narrator who felt authentic. This book weaves the tales of several individuals across centuries by binding their stories using a single drop of water as a symbol. I learned so much about ancient Mesopotamia from this book as well as some of the atrocities committed in modern-day Syria, aming other things. This narrative historical fiction is a must-read for our generation, and I suspect many generations to come.
Took a long time to get into it but glad I read it. An important book about the history of Mesopotamia and links to the modern world.
I chose this book because i was interested in expanding my knowledge of of the history and the people in the middle east. This was a great novel that wove together several stories that were touching but also educational. I love the characters in the history that is explored in this book.
Would never have chosen it but beautifully written and captivating characters. Thought provoking in many ways
Writer Elif Shafak’s novel, There Are Rivers in the Sky, discusses how each character relates to rivers, particularly the Tigris and the Thames. Each character interacts with the ancient city of Nineveh, in present-day Iraq. Each character interacts with the Epic of Gilgamesh. The characters are interconnected, even though they live in different periods, from the 19th century to the 21st Century. The characters are either from England, Turkey, or Iraq. The first chapter is a story of King Ashurbanipal of Ancient Nineveh (Shafak 3-18). The second chapter is on water (Shafak 19). The Yazid people are prominently featured in the book. I learned a considerable amount about the Yazidi people. I also learned a substantial amount about rivers. I believe that Shafak wanted to raise awareness about the genocide of the Yazidi people by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in this novel (Shafak 478-480). I read the book on my Kindle. The title of Shafak’s book comes from the character of Arthur, born on the Thames River bank in 19th-century London, England. Baby Arthur looks at “the rivers in the sky. Mighty rivers that never cease to flow” (Shafak 468). As he grew up, Arthur developed a deep interest in Ancient Mesopotamia. Shafak’s book, There Are Rivers in the Sky, is a readable novel about how rivers shape people.
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