About the Book

This is a dazzling feat of storytelling that spans centuries and continents, and is impossible to reduce to a few simple lines.

It opens in the ruins of Nineveh, that ancient city of Mesopotamia, where 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. Arthur’s only chance of escaping poverty is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a printing press, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums,

In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a Yazidi girl living by the River Tigris, waits to be baptised with water brought from the holy sit of Lalish in Iraq. The ceremony is cruelly interrupted, and soon Narin 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. Zaleekhah foresees a life drained of all love and meaning – until an unexpected connection to her homeland changes everything.

Reading it, next to a my own special River (the Loire), over the summer of 2025, gave me immense pleasure as I was sucked into the intertwined lives of the characters, and pause to reflect on the significance of memories, and water, and the humanity that connects us all in this deeply satisfying novel.

Reviews for There are Rivers in the Sky

by Elif Shafak

"Elif Shafak's narrative vision is as remarkable and astonishing as ever. Wonderful!" -- William Boyd​

A writer of important, beautiful, painful, truthful novels." -- Marian Keyes​

It will make you think, cry, rage - and hope." -- New Statesman​