This will definitely be on my "top books of the year" list!

The scope of the novel is an ambitious one: three timelines, each connected to Mesopotamia in a different way, woven together by water, memory, loss. In the 1800s, a boy with a brilliant mind named Arthur is born in the slums of London along the Thames river, with an uncanny interest in ancient Nineveh; in 2014, a Yazidi girl in Turkey named Narin travels up the Tigris river to Iraq with her grandmother to visit their ancestral village next to the ruins of Nineveh; and in 2018 a young hydrologist named Zaleekhah grapples with depression in a houseboat on the Thames.

The book opens with a drop of water falling on King Ashurbanipal's head in his Nineveh palace back in ancient times. That same droplet of water evaporates and rains back down to earth over and over across centuries, retaining small pieces of memory along the way. This is what begins to tie the three seemingly disconnected storylines together, though as we read on we find there are more connections between them than we initially knew.

The writing in this book is absolutely gorgeous, and I loved the musings about memory and meaning, and what water represents in Yazidi culture, and ancient wisdom and culture, and what lives on after civilizations crumble. It was stunningly beautiful at times.

I also loved getting to know the characters. I will admit that I found Zaleekhah to be a little less interesting than Narin and Arthur -- who I felt deeply emotionally invested in -- but I enjoyed all three plotlines nonetheless, and I think they all worked well together.

The settings were just as alive as the human characters, too, especially with the rich history they brought with them. Ancient Nineveh, where the story of the Ark took place, where ancient Mesopotamian scribes innovated cuneiform writing on clay tablets, was so interesting. The Yazidi villages, as well as their culture and traditions, were fascinating to learn about, too.

I should note that there are quite a lot of content warnings for this book. Suicidal thoughts, violence and armed conflict on-page, and discussions of sexual violence (which thankfully took place off-page) were all present.

5 stars 🌟

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing Group for this ARC to read and review.

This book includes 3 POVs with interrelated stories, but how they are related is explained later. I really enjoyed the descriptive writing in this. It honestly seemed like poetry to me. This book was amazing for the first 80%, but then came the issues with ISIS. While I realize ISIS is a major issue for people living out in that area this part was quite a bit too triggering for me. I considered putting it down and DNF'ing it a lot, but since I was so close to the end, I continued reading. If you aren't seriously triggered by mentions of rape, you will likely enjoy this book as it was beautifully written. It was just a little much for me.

This was an interesting read and a type of book that I ordinarily do not read. The author’s writing style is very descriptive and demonstrates a deep understanding of the basis for the book. It covers three different characters covering two different locations. The plot revolves around two rivers – the Thames and the Tigris. The stories intertwine at various points and the author ties it all up neatly with the ending. Overall, a good read.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Goodreads, Net Galley, Amazon, Facebook and my nonfiction book review blog.

This is an exceptional book. The characters are vividly drawn, the story is mesmerizing, the throughline of water beautifully links what might otherwise be a complicated plot, and the depth of detail (and associated research) renders realistic scenes, sometimes brutally so, while still managing to sprinkle the darkness (and remind readers) of the simple joys of a principled life founded in curiosity, love, and loyalty. This novel is worth every bit of effort it may take a reader to fully absorb its depth and impact. Not to be missed.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advance copy of this novel about how water is life and like water each time our lives are blocked, dammed or even polluted, water keeps flowing just as we have to to be true to ourselves.

Big novels, not just size, but ideas, have always been my thing. Doesn't matter the genre, try something new, present a reader like myself with a new way of looking at the world, or even better a look at the world I know little about, I will make the time, and effort to follow along. And shout out praise to everyone I can. There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak is a book that starts with a simple drop of rain, A rain drop that covers centuries, people, events-some horrible, some beautiful all told in a unique and stylish way.

A cloud moves slowly over the desert, a small cloud in the ancient past. The cloud stops over the city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris. A single drop of rain lands on the head of King Ashurbanipal, before a torrent of rain follows, forcing the King inside to his library that he will famed for. However he is a monarch and also capable of great cruelty, so upon hearing his mentor has betrayed him, the King orders the mentor to be burned alive, a punishment that stays with the rain drop, even as the centuries past. The story than follows three characters in different times. Arthur is born on the shores of the Thames in London in the 1840's. Arthur is a smart lad, quick to pick up things, but trapped by an abusive drunken father, and a mother with her own problems, and few opportunities for advancement, unless he makes them. Narin is ten years old living in Turkey in the year of 2014, and has a health issue that is slowly taking away her hearing. Narin's grandmother has a desire to bring her back to the ancestral lands in Iraq to be baptised in a mosque that means much to the Yazidi, of who she is. However ISIS is on the rise, and the lands of the Yazidi are being taken away. The year is 2018 and a hydrologist is hiding from her abusive husband living on a houseboat, and thinking of a fatal end. Zaleekah is orphaned, now divorced and depressed. So Zaleekah's decided she will give herself one month to live, before killing herself. Until she comes across something that gives her a reason to live.

An intermingling of stories, about people who seem so real, and going through horrible situations, and yet flowing, like rivers that don't know where they are going to quote a songwriter. Water unites these characters, from being born on the Thames, the damming of Narin's community, causing them to become refugees again, even Zaleekah's study of water, I've never seen an element so key to a story, and used in so many ways. The book flows well, no sudden rapids, the narratives all mix and never seem forced. Shafak also uses language well, there are phrases and sentences that one will stop and read a few times before moving on. And parts one will find very hard to forget.

A wonderful novel, a book to read in front of the fire, a big book full of ideas, that makes the reader think and feel. That's rare today. This is my first book by Elif Shafak. I am going to have to read more.

Elif Shafak holds a special place among my favorite authors, her vast knowledge illuminating each page she crafts. The narrative unfurls from ancient Mesopotamia, where a single drop of water initiates a tale woven around three distinct characters and two rivers. From the shores of Iraq to the bustling streets of London and back, the reader traverses through time and space.

Arthur, a figure born into destitution along the Thames in the 19th century, finds solace in translating the ancient tiles depicting the epic of Gilgamesh. Narin, a young Yazidi girl, becomes ensnared in a harrowing journey amidst the atrocities of the 2014 Tigris baptism and the ensuing genocide. Meanwhile, Zaleekhah, a Hydrologist dwelling on a houseboat along the Thames in 2018, grapples with her own intricate existence.

While the lives depicted are multifaceted, the novel's central theme remains steadfast: the intrinsic connection between humanity and water. Indeed, water emerges as a pivotal character, shaping the course of events and binding the narrative together.

Shafak's prose is exquisite, with certain chapters resonating like timeless fables. Through her storytelling, I gained invaluable insights into Iraq and the plight of the Yazidi people, previously unfamiliar to me. Though not a swift read, and at times yearning for a denser plot or deeper character connections, the novel remains a singular and remarkable achievement.

My heartfelt gratitude to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to engage with and review this extraordinary work.

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak weaves an intriguing story with the use of three very different characters. We meet Arthur in 1840, who overcomes poverty and abuse to become a world renowned scholar of Mesopotamia. Narin, in 2014, travels to Iraq with her grandmother to be baptized but ISIS completely changes her life trajectory. Zaleekah, in 2018, lives in London and is going through a divorce. Her life path will intertwine with the other characters and change her forever.
I would recommend this book for historical fiction and general fiction readers if you appreciate complex stories with varying timelines and characters. I did find the beginning of the book challenging at first because it takes several chapters to establish the backstories and to get to know the characters. Arthur was my anchor as I was reading, his story draws you in quickly because of his courage to rise above every obstacle that presents to him. Narin’s story is quite dire and heart wrenching, the genocide of the Yazidi people is an overwhelming, horrific story that needs to be heard. Zaleekah’s story shows how the choices you make can set you on a path to greater happiness by allowing yourself to connect with people.

Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

What a beautifully-written, wistful, hopeful, and emotionally touching novel. It is rare to read books that leave you feeling more knowledgeable, or at least more curious, about things you didn’t know before. This novel made me want to know more about the history of Ancient Mesopotamia, Yazidi culture, and current threats to water worldwide. all thanks to the engaging stories of three main characters that span centuries and locations. I was curious to read a novel by Elif Shafak and I’m glad I had the opportunity to read this one - I will for sure explore the rest of her bibliography now.

I was a huge fan of Elif Shafak’s previous book, so upon receiving this arc I was ecstatic to say the least.

This book was quite different than her previous book, but still maintained that rich writing that captures the story setting and world in a way that sucks you in from the first page. This book jumps around in timelines and periods, which is a trope that for me personally is hard to pull off—I ALWAYS end up connecting with one more than the other and wanting to skip chunks. In this book, it was handled masterfully as I truly connected with every time period and section.

The characterization was done subtly and artfully, with the setting almost feeling as if it had a soul of its own with the way Shafak explored it with the reader. While the plot was slow to pick up, I cared enough about this world I was in. And that’s what a good historical novel will do.

Thank you endlessly to Net Galley for this E-Arc!

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak was so wonderful and captivating. It’s complex but the writing flows so well that it sucks you right into the story. I couldn’t put this book down. I’ve read Shafak’s previous works and enjoyed them immensely but there was something real special about this one. It’s written so beautifully and the characters will stick with you for so long. I cannot wait to recommend this book to everyone I know.

One rain drop connects four people - King Ashurbanipal from the city of Ninevah, a poor boy named Arthur from London in 1852, Narin a Yazidi girl from Turkey in 2014, and a water scientist Zaleekhah from London in 2018. The story unfolds with viewpoints from each character that gradually reveal their myriad of connections to each other. The one uniting force of them all is the emphasis on water and Mesopotamian culture.

The prose and descriptions in this book are vivid and beautiful. This book reminded me a lot of Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr because of the various character viewpoints across history. Reading descriptions of what ISIS did to the Yazidi people in 2014 was heartwrenching. I appreciated the detailed attention to history across all the time periods. At the end of the book, you're still left with some questions which will likely leave me thinking about this book for some time.

What a wonderful story. I was captivated by the storylines all throughout the novel. I loved the messages, symbolism, and rich history of the all the rivers involved. The characters were very well developed and I felt such empathy for their circumstances. I couldn’t stop reading because I was rooting for all of them. It was a wonderful read!!

Writing: 4.5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot: 3.5/5

A long and highly complex book following three elaborate storylines, all influenced in some way by the Epic of Gilgamesh — the epic Babylonian poem from about 2000 BC. Arthur Smythe — also known as King Arthur of the Sewers and Slum — is born into abject poverty but has an extraordinarily keen mind, an eidetic memory, and an absorbing passion for the artifacts in the British Museum. His story runs from his birth in 1840 to his death 36 years later in Iraq. Zaleekhah is a passionate researcher who focuses on the study and conservation of the Earth’s water in 2018 — focused on theories that would earn her derision were she to try to publish. She is also is pulled in to a fascination with the region through her own Iraqi heritage and feels a despair at the state of the Earth, both politically and environmentally. Narin is a nine-year old Yazidi girl whose village is to be subsumed from flood waters once a new, large dam is completed. A trip to Iraq in 2014 before they must leave the area exposes her to the cruelty of ISIS. Woven throughout the story are themes and entangled details about Mesopotamian history, antiquity looting, modern ISIS, grand scale pollution, language processing and the underpinnings of water throughout.

Shafak’s brain is many orders of magnitude more erudite and complex than mine. The way she can pull together an apparently disjointed collection of data points, commentary, and occurrences and create an interconnected narrative of great scope is inspiring. Her facility with language is impressive — she has a lyrical style that nevertheless manages to convey real content. An example of a one sentence physical description that manages to combine visual depiction, origin, and impact: “… neither grey nor white, the air is a soupy ochre that glows green in places. Particles of soot and ash float above, as domestic coal fires and factory chimneys belch sulfur-laden smoke, clogging the lungs of Londoners, breath by breath.”

I have mixed feelings about how much I enjoyed reading this book. I loved all the detail — giving great depth to so many aspects of the world and bringing so many pieces of information — that could have easily remained hidden — to the surface. These days it feels like we have access to so much information, we are forced to have strong opinions based on a very shallow understanding of the topic, so I appreciated the deep dives on … everything. I loved all the unusual minutiae that came into the story — underground lost rivers, Ashurbanipal’s lost library, a tattooist who works only in cuneiform. However, a real sense of impending doom suffused the pages, and that only got worse at the story went on. It’s hard not to feel as though the world were hopelessly hurtling towards a bad end, with genocidal maniacs, environmental disasters, and a generous helping of greed, power-hunger, cruelty, cynicism, and general disregard pervading the text. I freely acknowledge that the world has many, many, problems, but I prefer to read about the many ways we continue to try to improve the many problems and not to succumb to melancholy and hand wringing. I also had a real problem with the ethical dilemma presented at the end. I felt the character’s resolution (clearly representing the author’s opinion) was surprisingly poorly thought out given the depths of her big picture thinking through the rest of the book.

So — if you can read for the history, the beautiful prose, the increased awareness of the interconnectedness of the Earth and the people running mad upon it, you will probably love this book. If your mood is one that is highly influenced by what you’re reading, you might want to pop a Prozac or two before diving in.

This novel will easily be my favorite novel of this year. My introduction to Elif Shafak was through the book "The Island of Missing Trees'. I eagerly dove into her previous works as well. I will say that this novel far surpasses those previous works. In There Are Rivers in the Sky, Shafak weaves together a gorgeous tapestry of stories all linked by a single drop of water.

The story begins in ancient Mesopotamia where a single raindrop lands on the head of ruler Ashurbanipal. He has curated a library which contains lapis lazuli tablets containing the Epic of Gilgamesh. Ashurbanipal prides himself on being a learned man, but he is in fact a cruel and heartless ruler.

The story next links our next character through a snowflake landing on a newborn who was just born to his mudlarker mother beside the River Thames. This child was named King Arthur of the Sewers an Slums. in 1800's London. This was a character I just fell in love with. If you read Barbara Kinsolver's Demon Copperhead and had your heart twisted by Demon Copperhead, you will equally fall in love with the character of King Arthur. Arthur worked as a child as an apprentice to a publisher and taught himself ancient cuneiform. I don't want to give anymore of his story away, as you are in for an epic adventure.

From that same drop of water we are also introduced to Narin, a young Yazidi girl traveling to the Tigris River for her baptism. We are also introduced to Zaleekhah, a hydrologist living on a houseboat on the River Thames.

Shafak's writing is lyrical and spell-bounding. Her storytelling ability is simply amazing. I can not imagine the sheer amount of research that went into this novel. Shafak manages to tie these characters together by the simplest of objects which was very inventive.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this novel.

A drop of water falls from the sky, landing on a king, so begins this story of ancient times, and the years that follow. The drop follows the boy’s life as a newborn baby, born into poverty, who becomes a young boy who lives in poverty, dismissed by others for the way he lives, dismissed by his father who mocks him for the things that interest him, dismissed by his classmates and teacher.

As time passes, he will find a way to prove to himself, if not to the others who have dismissed him so easily, that poverty does not mean his brain is inferior, or that he is inferior. He has yet to realize that he has a gift, his ability to remember events, dates, and just and when he is given a chance at his first job at a publishing company, it opens yet another door for him. A chance for a job at the British Museum, which is when he begins to realize that he has a gift that will help him navigate the future.

This is such a beautifully written story that is shared over different eras, with water being the unchanging connection. There are also moments of hardships, loss, and cruelty, but there is also love.


Pub Date: 20 Aug 2024


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor/Knopf

There Are Rivers in the Sky tells the tale of several different people who share a common thread.

While the premise of this book, water having the memory of all it has seen, was very interesting to me as a storytelling device, this story fell a bit flat for me. I felt somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of point of views and the detail of their stories. It felt hard to connect to any character because I was being told so much. I enjoyed the concept for the most part, but felt I would have enjoyed it more with fewer characters and point of views.

Elif does it again ! She is an autobuy author for me and this book did not disappoint .
Thank you for the Arc .

Elif Shafak is a beautiful writer. Her stories turn a black and white page into a rainbow of delicious text. I frequently reread passages to get the full impact. This is not a page turner…savor it. Nisaba, the goddess of storytelling, would be proud.

We begin with a drop of water in ancient Mesopotamia, flow to the River Thames (1840) and then by the River Tigris (2014.)

The metaphors are endless and Google was my friend to investigate further. The highest compliment I can give an author is she left me wanting more.

“May life be kind to you…and when it is not, may you emerge stronger.”

This is my first book by Elif Shafak, and her mastery of historical fiction is astounding. She brilliantly weaves three timelines together as one without favoring one character over another. Everyone and everything is related - and this story shows how none of that should ever be disregarded.

A drop of water falls onto the head of an ancient Mesopotamian king who is about to engage in an act of incredible cruelty. And that drop of water knows fear, and it remembers.

It will be there when a poor but brilliant boy is born on the sewage-filled banks of the Thames in 1840 and grows up to investigate that ancient civilization along the Tigris.

And it will be there on both rivers in the 21st century as a teenager and a research scientist come to terms with their changing worlds.

There is so much to the many layers of this book. At first it seems the disparate stories don't connect but they do, all with water being the constant running through the book.

This is an absolutely fantastic book, beautifully written, filled with well-fleshed out characters. Each has dealt with so much pain and heartache and yet each also finds fulfillment and joy. It was at times really difficult to read because the author doesn't shy away from the cruelty in the worlds of each character. But they each persevere, as does the water,
o ten despite our actions.