The book begins with a drop of water, which touches the lives of various characters across various timelines spanning centuries. Author Elif Shafak brilliantly weaves this historical fiction novel's strands: three different characters, two different rivers (the Tigris and the Thames), and the ancient Mesopotamian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh. The Assyrian city of Nineveh is also common ground for the three characters. This novel's truths are hard truths. They are bitter medicines to swallow, but there are glimmers of sweet hope as well as troves of rich historical and cultural tidbits.

[Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

This is a multilayered and multiple time framed story of three characters connected through time by single drop of water. An all encompassing novel about words and ideas, about good and evil, tying past to near present with water. At times it felt a little too ambitious and a little slow moving. However, it merits 4 stars for the beautiful writing and wonderful characters, my favorite of whom was Arthur .

I received a copy of this from Knopf through NetGalley.

This was an absolutely beautiufl novel. The alternating timelines and viewpoints started fractured, but fit together perfectly in the end. it was a wonderful tale navigating Iranian history with modern reality. The characters were fascinating, real and fantastic.

This book is one of my absolute favorites of the year. There Are Rivers in the Sky reminded me so strongly of Cloud Cuckoo Land in the ways the authors masterfully wove the different stories together, all centered around the theme of water and cuneiforms. I cannot stop thinking and talking about this book. It's a masterpiece.

I wasn’t able to review this book before it’s publish date but now that I have read it I am giving it 4 stars.

There Are Rivers in the Sky is a lyrical work of historical fiction told in three timelines over centuries, following well-drawn characters connected by a single drop of water. It’s moving and beautifully told and will likely stay with you long past the final page.

Thank you Elif Shafak, Knopf, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is my second Elif Shafak book and she’s has established herself as one of the best writers of the 21st century. This book is ambitious, beautiful, and heartbreaking.

Shafak’s story, inspired by The Epic of Gilgamesh but encompassing ideas about memory and the interconnection of all humans, starts in ancient Nineveh. Thousands of years later, Shafak introduces a Assyriologist in Victorian London, a little girl in modern Turkey and Iraq, and modern hydrologist who all intersect through the twists and turns of history and nature.

The best part of the book is Shafak’s poetic writing. Every sentence is a work of art.

The way a drop of water travels from a raindrop falling on a man in Mesopotamia to a snowflake falling on a very different man in Victorian England to a drop of water drunk by a modern little girl in the mountains of Iraq is a stunning display of humanity. And the story of the Yazidi community is devastating, but important.

If I have any complaints, one story has greater emotional impact than the others, which isn’t surprising since twice the pages are spent on one character over the others. But I still sobbed at the end and felt like the author absolutely nailed what she was going for.

This is a towering achievement that I will remember for a long time.

Rivers connect the world and the people that live on them. This book trascneds time and space to show the connects over time and space between people on these rivers. The conenction between the ancient history. and the world today makes the reader thinkn about the conenctions between all of us and how the world changes but still stays the same.“Water remembers. It is humans who forget.” This quotes stuck with me as we look at the ideas of climate changes and how the choices we make in the past are the things that can affect our future.

I’ve never been able to resist an Elif Shafak book even though I quarrel with them sometimes. Her newest is definitely ambitious, with beautiful writing and felt very well researched. I blame Olaf/Frozen 2 for not being able to take water having memory seriously.

This is a masterful work. Each story weaves in and out of each other, and each one is so immersive. I did find myself yearning for Arthur’s story whenever we moved away from him, but that just goes to show how talented Shafak is in getting the reader involved in the story, especially a story so important as this one.

Interesting theme. I enjoyed the story overall and appreciated getting a better feel for some areas and times with which I wasn't all that familiar.

I won't say I exactly enjoyed all the ways the stories intersected (because of the events, not the storytelling) but the story did keep my attention for the most part. I did have some trouble connecting with all three main characters, but I'm chalking that up to just not being on the same wavelength as the author.

Big picture, it was a good story and I'm glad I read it.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

There are rivers in the sky is a beautifully written historical novel. A single drop of water bookends the novel as we follow a poverty stricken savant in the Victorian era and move to 2014 where a young girl is growing up during the rise of isis and jump again to 2018 where we follow a hydrologist divorcee in London. All three are interested in the epic of gilglomesh and Mesopotamian culture.. while we follow the three intersecting timelines we go on a journey of history, story ownership, genocide, war, religion, academia, poverty, etc. the three timelines initially don’t seem to have much connection but when it clicks-it will break hearts.

Tough to follow at times, but beautifully told with universal themes and a dash of history of what is modern turkey. Will go back to read Shafkafs backlist for more history and heartbreaking prose.

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved prior books by this author, but I had to abandon this one at 40%. Trite, heavy handed, dense. Overall really not enjoyable to me.

I have heard nothing but great things about the work of Elif Shafak, so when I saw her 2024 release up on NetGalley I requested it on impulse and wow am I glad that I did because this was phenomenal.

This is historical fiction at its best. Shafak weaves together the stories of a poverty stricken child with an incredible memory in London 1840 with a young Yazidi girl facing the rise of ISIS in 2014 Turkey with a recently divorced hydrologist in 2018 London. What connects these three seemingly disparate stories is the ancient city of Nineveh, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and a single drop of water.

The first ~15% was a bit of a struggle trying to understand how these narratives weave together but the prose was enthralling so I kept going and as it all began to come together I couldn't help but marvel at the skill of this storytelling. Shafak is able to make a fairly long and heart wrenching story not get bogged down by the length and sadness.

This is a book that will sit with me for some time and is a serious contender for one of my favorite books of the year. I will absolutely be checking out Shafak's backlist and any future publications.

I think I may have found my favorite read of 2024 so far. Books can be enjoyed like food, some you devour quickly, some you decide to stop eating, some you enjoy so much that you slow down and savor it. There Are Rivers in the Sky is one that starts off almost as a slow burn, but once I got to the meat of it, I didn't want it to end. There is so much in it to take in and taste and understand.

This book has 3 storylines, maybe sorta 4, that you know must be going to interconnect eventually. And if you've read Shafak's writing before, you know that there's a good chance that it'll be heartbreaking. And it is. It was so worth the heavy heart, though. The journey and passion and loss of passion and obstacles to overcome in each character's piece of the timeline is heavy, and laced with so much of reality, even as a fiction book.

I love the concept of a drop of water becoming all parts of the water cycle, and how this drop of water traveled miles and miles and iterations, to connect a set of people who otherwise, might not have ever be connected. Water is one of the most important pieces of life, and this story was an homage to the beauty of that.

In conclusion: Loved it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf Publishing for the e-ARC and ARC!

I think this is written well, it just wasn’t for me. I just don’t have the attention span needed to fully follow this story, I had to work too hard for it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers!
It starts and ends with a drop of rain…and oh, the tale that is told between that start and end is everything. It’s magical, yet gritty and realistic. At times it was almost too smart for me, but also relatable. It’s definitely multi cultural, but something every single human being will understand on a core level.
What a compelling read!

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the premise was very intriguing. I enjoyed that it covered multiple timelines and I thought everything came together nicely at the end.

I got months behind on my ARCs but I finally got the motivation to plow through them and review. This one was by far my favorite of the batch.

This is an ambitious, sweeping, gorgeous novel that delivers on every level. It tells the story of three people through different time periods, all connected by rivers. King Arthur of the Sewers and Slums, or Arthur colloquially, lives in Victorian England by the River Thames and is born in sewage by the river to a mother who doesn't want him, possessing of a perfect memory.

He rises above his station to become an apprentice to a printer, then becomes obsessed with Mesopotamian archaeology at the British Museum. The only one who can read cuneiform with his particular talents, he soon translates the Epic of Gilgamesh and travels back to the River Tigris and Nineveh, where he becomes enchanted with the much maligned Yazidi people and falls in love with a seer he can never have named Leila. He becomes intertwined with the lore of her family.

Her descendent is Narin, an orphan with a loving grandmother who becomes embroiled in the ethnic conflicts of an ISIS-controlled Iraq. Who listens to all the stories her grandmother tells with rapt attention and is destined to go deaf.

Which brings us to modern-day London and Zahleekah, weighed down by grief ever since her parents were killed by a flood on a trip to Turkey. Zahleekah, a hydrologist who's afraid of water, rents a houseboat and intends to kill herself.

Their fates soon become enmeshed, just like the flowing currents of rivers the world over, with the stories of the people who loved the river, ancient people oppressed by genocide and poverty, whose stories were rewritten by colonizers and still remembered by the river.

The story also touches on the ravages of climate change, but in a deft, sophisticated way rather than a heavy-handed way.

For anyone who loves archaeology, rivers and storytelling, this book is like a love letter to all three topics told through the eyes of three people with a deep loneliness inside them that sets them apart from society, their own families, even if they themselves are the keepers of the stories of time.

A beautiful, haunting, heartbreaking epic, with a devastatingly hopeful conclusion.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The first and best thing I can think to say is WOW. I had never read anything by Elif Shafak before, but I was drawn to this one by the intriguing title and premise. I love books that span multiple timelines and all eventually connect. I was not prepared for such a sweeping epic and beautiful story. The ancient city of Ninevah and the Epic of Gilgamesh were expertly woven into all the narratives, giving the stories a commonality that meant none of them could survive or make sense without the others. Yet, they were all different enough to have their own individual plots and characters to draw the reader in. I would think it is hard to write a novel in which the narrative jumps back and forth between centuries, but this one handled it so seamlessly, it never felt disjointed. I truly loved this book and look forward to reading more by Shafak.