There are Rivers in the Sky

Elif Shafak

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Publication Date: 08/08/2024 ISBN: 9780241435014 Category: Books

Hardback Original price was: £18.99.Current price is: £17.09.

Mr B's review

A story captured in the memory of single raindrop, Elif Shafak’s unique storytelling follows the lives of three characters, set on the banks of the Thames and of the Nigris. These rivers carry histories that resurface and return, just like the fabled poem of Gigamesh.
This poem first obsesses Arthur, a young boy with incredible memory and academic obsession. It may save him from the poverty of the Victorian London slums, however the barriers of class forever separate him from both his own country and the lands that beguile him.
In modern London, Zaleekhah treads water as divorce, family pressure, childhood trauma and the isolation of her hydrology research drain both her sleep and happiness. She soon meets Nen, who introduces her to the tale of Gilgamesh. In this, Zaleekhah recognises something fundamental to her own life.
Meanwhile, a decade ago in Turkey, young Narin is listens to her Grandmother’s stories. Her magic and wisdom are an antidote to the encroaching threat of war and persecution of her Yazidi community.
The characters interlink in ways that feel unexpected yet inevitable. The research and historical detail enrich an incredibly moving story of belonging, legends and connection. – Katrina

Description

THE TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

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.

*****

‘Elif Shafak is a unique and powerful voice in world literature’ Ian McEwan

‘An extraordinary novel, fresh and cleansing, like the rain bouncing off the metal roof of our lives’ Colum McCann

‘Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf. Make place for her in your heart too. You won’t regret it’ Arundhati Roy

‘One of the best writers in the world today’ Hanif Kureishi

‘A brilliant, unforgettable novel’ Mary Beard

Elif Shafak, a Nielsen bestseller of 2023

Publisher Review

Elif Shafak is a unique and powerful voice in world literature — Ian McEwan Shafak makes a new home for us in words — Colum McCann A writer of important, beautiful, painful, truthful novels — Marian Keyes