There are Rivers in the Sky

THE TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

The breathtaking new novel from the Booker-shortlisted, bestselling author of The Island of Missing Trees and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World.

*****

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. 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, with one book soon sending him across the seas: Nineveh and Its Remains.

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.

A dazzling feat of storytelling from one of the greatest writers of our time, Elif Shafak's There are Rivers in the Sky is a rich, sweeping novel that spans centuries, continents and cultures, entwined by rivers, rains, and waterdrops:

'Water remembers. It is humans who forget.'

*****

'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

Review: It will make you think, cry, rage - and hope. It is Elif Shafak at her best * The New Statesman *
Gloriously expansive and intellectually rich... a magnificent achievement * The Spectator *
Richly evocative. A fascinating stream of storytelling. * Financial Times *
Engrossing. I turned the pages hungrily, carried by Shafak's energetic prose and confident that it was heading towards a coherent and rewarding ending. As ever, Shafak did not disappoint. * I Paper *
An absorbing novel. Shafak is a novelist whose interest in mapping the intricately related world and its history goes beyond literary device. * Guardian *
Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf. Make place for her in your heart too. You won't regret it -- Arundhati Roy
It will surprise no one that this is a brutal, elegant and incredible book. Amazing what Elif Shafak has done here - again! Magic. -- Evie Wyld
An odyssey, an epic, a lament, and a tale of redemption, There are Rivers in the Sky is a clarion call to honor the elemental forces that shape our memories, our histories, and our world. In short, a masterpiece. -- Ruth Ozeki
A book that is astonishing, ingenious and beautiful. A modern classic. Elif Shafak is one of the great writers of our time -- Peter Frankopan
A deep and satisfying sweep of a story combining intellectual pleasures with a transformative empathy. Particular, universal, with head and with heart in perfect balance, this is surely a landmark novel. -- Laline Paull
A great, sweeping, enthralling novel - Elif Shafak's narrative vision is as remarkable and astonishing as ever. Wonderful. -- Will Boyd
Literature on a grand scale, mythic and timeless -- Nadifa Mohamed
There are Rivers in the Sky is an enchanting epic, told through the vantage of single raindrop, where the sacred mysteries of water, science, and poetry collide. In this gorgeous and riverine novel, water is poetry, water is memory. This is a love song to the keepers of our stories and histories, a resounding tribute to the wise women who know the poetry of our rivers. Elif Shafak is one of them-a master storyteller whose prose thrums with such gorgeous details and propulsive spirit, flowing with a keen-eyed wisdom that only she could conjure. I came away feeling restored -- Safiya Sinclair
Elif Shafak approaches the world with grace, lyricism, and courage. Confronting societies riven by conflicts over gender, religion, sexuality, nationalism, memory, ideology, and more, Shafak wields the novel's artistic power to cut through complacency and orthodoxy with ruthlessness and beauty. Her words and works-compelling and provocative-leave us in a space of light, a clearing from where we can see this world anew. -- Viet Thanh Nguyen
From its bravura opening through to its final pages, There are Rivers in the Sky is a dazzling achievement. Shafak's imagination is a wonder: bold, capacious, beautiful and wise. -- Katie Kitamura
Elif Shafak's beautiful and moving new novel bears the reader along on its marvellous currents. Here, rivers twine with other rivers and lives with other lives across centuries and cultures, as the fate of a single drop of water weaves an intricate tapestry of love and loss -- Robert Macfarlane
Intricate, exhilarating storytelling that is a poetic reminder of how connected we are to one another and to the past. -- Tracy Chevalier
A great epic novel, as swift as a torrent, as deep as an ocean. Elif Shafak at the height of her powers, sweeping us off our feet. -- Leila Slimani
One of the best writers in the world today -- Hanif Kureishi
Wide-ranging, eloquent and lavishly detailed, There are Rivers in the Sky expertly draws its various narratives to a powerful climax -- Abdulrazah Gurnah
There's an elegance to Shafak's storytelling that always draws me, but it is her grit and substance that held me to the last page. Wonderful. -- Bonnie Garmus
A single raindrop links three narrative threads: Victorian London, where Arthur is obsessed with a lost poem after a visit to the British Museum; the River Tigris in 2014 as Narin flees war with her grandmother; and London in 2018 through the eyes of hydrologist Zaleekhah * Grazia - 12 more sizzling summer reads *
One lost poem, two great rivers, three vivid characters from different cultures and times are all united in the ever-changing fate of a single raindrop as it journeys from Victorian London to modern day Turkey in this evocative, immersive epic * The Simple Things - Ticket to read *
A brilliant, unforgettable novel, which raises big ideas of 'who owns the past' with nuance and complexity. Elif Shafak ties together diverse time periods and places in a way that seems both natural and wonderfully unexpected. -- Mary Beard
Bright, vivid and timeless like rivers. -- Philippa Gregory
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
Glorious, a journey across nature and history, memory and life, by our finest weaver of tales -- Philippe Sands