Arthur: 1840 London, born into poverty on the banks of the River Thames. He is brilliant and becomes fascinated by the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Narin: 2014 Turkey, 10 years old and going deaf, a member of the Yazhidi religion. She wants to be baptized in the River Tigris before she becomes totally deaf. ISIS is coming into power.

Zaleekah: 2018 London, a hydrologist who is newly divorced with an extended family who wants her to stay married. Her parents died when she was a child.

The River Thames and River Tigris: both used and mistreated by humans.

A drop of water. “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.” Water is the connection for the three narratives. The joys, sorrows, celebrations, and devastation in this book flow and carry you along. This is a book I will read again.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book absolutely blew me away. I’ll admit I was not always motivated to pick it up because at times it felt dense, but Elif Shafak does such a brilliant job of weaving together an intricate story. She gave us three characters and intertwined their stories so thoroughly that I did not want to think of them as separately by the end of this book.

Learning about the plight and persecution of the Yazidi people was eye-opening. Particularly, at a time where I am aware of and sensitive to multiple genocides occurring in the world as I was reading.

Learning about Mesopotamia and hydrology…I feel smarter from having read this book.

Also, this book managed to evoke emotions from me, which is rare. I’m very happy I took the time read this book and I’m excited to post a more thorough review on my book account.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

I'll be the first to admit that this is not a summer read, and yet I picked it up in July, thinking I would love it.

And I did.

It took me a second to get into because there are three different character points of view, and it starts wayyyyy back. But once I wrapped my head around who I would be following, I was completely sucked in. This book was HEAVY. It features genocide and climate change and imperialism and racism and and and. But wow was it so beautiful.

The characters were so beautifully fleshed out, and the way that their stories wove together was often surprising and unexpected. I can already tell that this book will leave an impression on me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC. All opinions are my own. This book publishes August 20.

There are Rivers in the Sky opens, focusing on a single drop of rain that falls on the head of King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, next to the River Tigris. From there, this book focuses on three timelines, Arthur in 1840s London, Narin in 2014 Turkey, and Zaleekah in 2018 London. How these characters are connected to each other, and to the single drop of water is slowly revealed as the plot moves forward. Arthur is a poverty-stricken young man who gradually works his way up in wealth and society thanks to a striking memory and understanding of cuneiform. Narin is a young Yazidi girl, embarking on a journey with her father and grandmother to Iraq to be baptized. Zaleekah is a hydrologist, recently separated from her husband and struggling to find her way through depression.
As with the Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak demonstrates a wonderful ability to develop her characters with lyrical prose and unique narrative voices. Prior to reading this particular book, I didn't know anything about the Yazidi people, their beliefs, or their recent struggles in Iraq against genocide, but it was clear from the book that Narin's storyline was building to something, and this book pulled me in for the ride. I especially appreciate books that give me a new perspective on people or places that I will likely not visit in my lifetime, and this book certainly does that. Overall, it was heart wrenching and difficult, but also beautiful.
Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

Summary from GR:
In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.

This book sounds amazing - I love plots that are set from Biblical locations.
I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of the ARC. My review is based on the plot, and I look forward to providing more details on this review later.

Wow this one was long and read like a "classic." That style is well loved by many readers but I found this to be more of a struggle than a treat.

Elif Shafak weaves together an incredible story that starts in ancient Mesopotamia and then follows three characters across continents and three periods of time. They are connected by a single drop of water. While I wasn't initially sure how H2O would serve as a thread, I was immediately and totally immersed in the lives and stories of Arthur, Narin and Zaleekah. They were portrayed deftly highlighting their strength of character while acknowledging their shortcomings. The stories of the people within their sphere (family, friends, colleagues, et al) similarly added depth and humanity even in the most challenging of situations - some of these characters also depict the cruelty and pain that we inflict on one another. I was also drawn into the historical references - I often was torn between putting down the book to delve into some historical tidbit that caught my attention and continuing on with the story. Shafak's writing was engaging with some sentences crafted and expressed in such a way that you just have to sit back to enjoy their beauty and meaning. While the backgrounds and perspectives of the characters are very different from my own, Shafak's prose connects you with the characters intimately. This is masterful storytelling and I'm immediately adding all her other books to my "to-read" pile.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the e-ARC.

Beautifully written, poetic, brilliant linking of seemingly disparate stories… There Are Rivers in the Sky is an epic, thoughtful drama. A bit draggy at times, it is very worth the time to read through. This is a book that will stay long in my soul.

Thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This is a beautiful story. A single drop of water wends its way from the beginning of a rainstorm in ancient Nineveh through dark and dangerous Victorian London to modern Iraq and London, touching lives that are linked in unexpected ways. Woven through is the poem Gilgamesh and themes of hate and love. It all flows together towards a final act of redemption and hope.

This is the kind of book I absolutely love, the kind that has my head spinning while I put aside all other books, unable to stop reading. The kind of book that needs rereading because you know you will learn more each time. With wonderful characters and storytelling it deeply explores the human experience across history.

Water is the vehicle that unites the story. The rivers of Mesopotamia and London, the cycle of water that is timeless. The story of Gilgamesh and ancient Nineveh motivates the characters. The destruction of a civilization and a culture, the trauma of war, and religious division afflict the characters. Storytelling gives meaning and understanding.

A single drop of water has come to each character. The raindrop that lands on the king of Nineveh’s hair later becomes the snowflake that lands in the mouth of a newborn baby, son of a London mudlark, who as an adult searches for the missing tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The drop of water travels back and forth across the world and across time, touching the lives of persecuted Yazidi and contemporary people in London. The drop is part of the neverending rivers of the sky, an eternal cycle.

Shafak weaves the characters’ destinies together to reach a heartbreaking conclusion.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

There's a thin thread connecting now to then and that thread is made of water. In my favorite read of 2024 so far, There Are Rivers in the Sky, Elif Shafak masterfully uncovers the intersection of the past and the future through the examination of our rivers and the people they give life to.

It all starts with a single rain drop. That drop travels hundreds of years connecting three central storylines in this book, revealing the main premise that water has memory. We travel from "olden times" in ancient Ninevah to the shores of the Thames where a boy named Arthur is born in the slums. More than century later, we meet a young Yazidi girl named Narin and her grandmother on the banks of the Tigris River. Separated by hundreds of miles buy only a few years, a hydrologist named Zaleekah is coming to terms with her parents' watery deaths. Seemingly unconnected, it is that little raindrop that ultimately brings them all to the same page.

I LIVED through this book. Like the raindrop, I was transported across millenia, sometimes forgetting where in time I truly stood. Shafak has a remarkable way of creating atmospheric moments. I could hear flowing water. I could smell the nagile smoke in the bazaar. I could feel mud squelching around my feet. Her ability to highlight the natural and ever-changing world through her tales of humanity is effortless and powerful. I fell in love with a river in this book the same way I fell in love with a fig tree in Island of Missing Trees.

I absolutely loved Arthur and Narin's storylines. They were painful and exciting and overflowing with passion, love and devastation. I wanted to be Arthur. I wanted to hold Narin. Zaleekah's storyline was interesting but I found myself loving her at a distance. There was some disconnect there for me and occasionally, the connection to the other stories felt forced. She's also the only character I felt I didn't get closure on (her former flame, her science hypothesis). I think this is why, without giving any spoilers, the ending wasn't as satisfying as I wanted it to be (I still absolutely loved the ending but I wanted more!).

The breadth of this sweeping novel reminded me of Anthiny Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land. It spanned so much time, so much but remained so flawlessly rooted in the rivers. It was poignant, meaningful, moving. I will not miss a single word Shafak ever writes.

Story premise: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Character development: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Writing style: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ending: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This story is as fluid and moving as its title. None of the peoples stories within it are anymore inticing than the others as they each feel real, important, and as desperate as the need for water to a starving soul. You wonder how these timelines and tales are going to come together, but they do in such a beautiful way. I highly recommend this book. A true work of litrary fiction and a glimpse into cultures many do not get to see.

Three Rivers in the Sky is a beautifully written and ambitious novel by Elif Shafak. A single drop of water connects three separate characters and stories which are separated by almost 100 years. Each storyline itself could have been its own book and the author does connect them by the end, some more obviously linked than others. The book covers many themes including the environment, religion and man’s inhumanity to man. The author takes us through multiple time periods from Mesopotamia to Dicken’s London to modern Turkey and London.. This does make it somewhat challenging to the reader but well worth the effort to switch back and forth. As a reader, I felt an immediate connection to the characters and the loved the complexity of the stories as well as the beautiful prose. This clearly is a brilliant work and I plan on following new works by this author. Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for allowing me to be an early reader of this fascinating book!

3.5 ⭐️s. The majority of the book follows 3 points of view and timelines, along with a prologue of a 4th, all tied together by water and an ancient Mesopotamian culture and language. I enjoyed how each story and perspective tied together, and how each character’s events led into the other’s chapter. It weaved together beautifully.

I also liked that I learned a lot about Nineveh, Mesopotamia and their cultures, as well as the Yazidis and how they were consistently marginalized and persecuted. While I remember hearing about ISIS and the Kurdish people, I didn’t know enough context to understand what was going on and how horrific it was specifically, even knowing how incredibly evil ISIS is.

However, the book itself was just really slow and often repetitive in the poetry and sort of proverb-like sections. While it allowed for the 3 timelines and characters to not be confusing or jolting, it also made the book drag. I really enjoyed Arthur’s and Narin’s stories but I just didn’t care for Zaleekah’s. I get that she was struggling with depression and the whole book had a melancholy feel, but hers really was just a very depressive, sort of wallowing compared to the other 2. I think I would have rated at 4 if not for her sections.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

Beautiful writing and concept of a single drop of water connecting several people across centuries. The story features three major storylines and characters and I found myself more compelled by Arthur in 1840 London than the others. This is an impressive and accomplished work that I think will delight fans of literary and historical fiction.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited to read this book; I’ve read several of Elif Shafak’s other books and have yet to be disappointed— I’m happy to say this still holds true after finishing her newest one.

There Are Rivers In The Sky follows three separate characters, separated by nearly 100 years timespan— Arthur, Narin, and Zaleekah— who we come to find out are all connected through a single drop of water. This is the essential premise of the story and this drop of water, along with water in general, is the true lifeline and star of this story. I was so interested to see where Shafak would take this, especially after seeing what she did with The Island of Missing Trees.

The way Shafak uses nature as a character in this book and in her other works is truly novel and unique. All of the individual settings within this book came alive for me and the descriptions provided really helped the story come to life; nature as an element felt alive within this book. This was a powerful, epic tale and one that you could sink your teeth into; I very much enjoyed taking my time to read this book. I quickly became invested in the characters and truly cared what happened to them. Once I was in this book, I was definitely in for the whole ride. At times, it did feel a bit long but the characters kept me reading above all else and it was easy to keep going. In my reading experience, it felt like the plot almost came second to what the author’s musings and commentary about the role of water in humanity, the role of culture, and morality.

There was a great deal of research, folklore, and current events suffused into this work; I learned a great deal but, at times, it was a bit difficult to follow the many legends introduced throughout the story, especially between timelines. However, I did appreciate the clear appreciation and homage that Shafak paid to Mesopotamian culture within this book. This is another book that I think would merit a reread in order to better appreciate the many connections within the stories.

While this book was not perfect, it was a big win for me and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I look forward to continuing to picking up Elif Shafak’s work and can’t wait to see what others think of this when it comes out!

Thank you for this eARC in exchange for an honest opinion. Elif Shafak is one of my absolute favourite authors, so I was very happy when I got approved!

To me, the story started a bit slow and it took time for me to get into it because of the extensive world-building. However, it soon became a great journey across continents and time.
In this historical fiction, the reader follows three timelines: In the 19th century, a boy with a brilliant memory named Arthur is born in the slums of London along the Thames River. In 2014, a Yazidi girl in Turkey called Narin travels up the Tigris River to Iraq with her grandmother to visit their ancestral village. In 2018, a hydrologist named Zaleekhah battles depression and moves to a houseboat on the Thames.
I loved that the characters were all connected to Mesopotamia and the Epic of Gilgamesh in some way and that water was used as a unifying element. I found all three characters' stories equally captivating, but the actual main character was water. The raindrop's pov was very interesting and added to the already beautiful writing.
The story was deeply touching and emotional. Reading about the Yazidi genocides, ethnic cleansing, destruction of nature and stealing of Middle Eastern artefacts, and thus loss of cultural memory broke my heart.
I'll think about this book for a very long time and can recommend it to everyone. It is definitely one of the most important and powerful books of our time!
Thank you, Elif Shafak, for writing this and sharing it with the world.

Wow! I'm writing this just after finishing Elif Shafak's new book "There Are Rivers In the Sky", and I'm literally still catching my breath! I honestly cannot remember the last time that, upon finishing a book, I felt so emotionally wrung out, and spent, yet in that way that anyone who reads fiction to escape can thoroughly appreciate.
When I discovered that the very first chapter takes place in ancient Nineveh, and the then ruling king had a library full of fables, proverbs, elegies, and his most cherished poem, "The Epic of Gilgamesh", that this book was going to totally consume me.
The novel is told in three storylines, and in three different time periods. A single drop of water becomes two separate rivers that run through these stories, linking them together in a way that is at first subtle, yet becomes more complex as time goes on.
Taking us from Mesopotamia, to Dickens era London, to modern Turkey, then back to current day London–the author weaves in a love of poetry, with "The Epic of Gilgamesh" it's focus. We become involved in the lives of a class of people in Turkey who have been persecuted, tortured and massacred for the mistaken belief that they are nothing but 'devil worshippers'. And always, and throughout, there is water. Whether that original raindrop we encountered in Nineveh which we follow across storylines, or the rivers Tigris and the Thames–it is a constant theme, and by the end of the book becomes distinctly brilliant.
I've long been a fan of Elif Shafak, but this novel has blown me 'out of the water', and I've no doubt, even at this early date, that this book of hers will be my #1 pick of 2024!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for allowing me to be an early reader of this wonderful book!

An incredible undertaking ! This past Booker Nominee has created a story that encapsulates the idea that a single drop of water can tie together people through the span of 100's of years.

First, we are taken to Nineveh, in ancient Iraq during the time of King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia. A man who builds the first great library. in the early 1800's we meet Arthur who hopes to rise above abject poverty in London and comes across a book that focuses upon Nineveh. In 2014 we meet a Yazidi girl in Turkey. Narin's parents hope to baptize her in a sacred temple but are threatened by the growing power of ISIS.
Finally, in 2018, Londoner Zaleekah, is a hydrologist living on the Thames and near suicidal in her sadness.
She suddenly comes across a very unique book and the the drop of water is passed.... I do not know how a genius like Shafak can juggle and weave so many stories so seamlessly, but There Are Rivers In the Sky is a work of art. Traveling through time, tumbling through war and poverty and sickness, I never once doubted her! #knopf #Pantheon #thereareriversinthesky #ElifShafak

There Are Rivers in the Sky
By Elif Shafak

I must preface this review by saying that my late husband was born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq. Therefore there was much in this book that was of more than average interest to me.

This book, which begins with a drop of rain falling on Ashurbanipal, king of Nineveh in ancient Mesopotamia. The theme of water as a symbol of continuity is there throughout the book.

After this opening sequence we are introduced to three different characters from three different places, times and backgrounds. First is a boy in 19th century England, the product of the slums and the poverty of the times, who nevertheless has a mind that never forgets anything and sees patterns in everything. His name is Arthur Smyth, known to his friends as King Arthur of the Sewers and Slums.

The second in a nine year old Yazidi girl named Narin, who is losing her hearing. She is part of an insular community and culture which has been subjected to repeated genocide. Yazidis are hated and reviled and called – unjustly – Devil Worshippers. Her story begins in 2014.

The third is a young woman named Zaleekhah Clarke, a scientist who lost her parents in childhood to a flash flood. Her field of study is hydrology and she is trying to prove a theory that water has memory. Her story is in 2018.

All three of the alternating stories are interesting, though I admit that I was far into the book before the correlations among the three became apparent. I was beginning to fear that the stories would not come together. But then, in a manner that was totally unexpected, they did!

This book grabbed my heart and at times left me in tears at the horrors that humans inflict upon each other, justifying them in the name of religion. There is much to be learned in the book about what was once a beautiful and flourishing area of the world – and what men have done to bring it down. But once again water, in the form of rivers, goes on in spite of us. It is a sad story, wonderfully written, with much for us all to learn.