There are Rivers in the Sky

Elif Shafak is back with an ambitious novel, and perhaps her best yet, a masterful take on historical fiction. Shafak invites readers into a world where three different storylines are beautifully intertwined across different timelines, all connected by a single drop of water.

We are introduced to three different yet interconnected protagonists from different eras and locales. In Victorian London, Arthur, a gifted boy from the slums, is thrust into a broader world when he encounters a book Nineveh and Its Remains; this tale leads him to an obsession with Mesopotamian history, anchoring his life’s journey.

In modern-day Turkey, we meet Narin, a Yazidi girl travelling a perilous journey along with her grandmother to the sacred waters of Lalish, in order to be baptised. Her peaceful life is shattered by violence, and amid a landscape marred by conflict, she seeks refuge and to reconnect with her ancestral heritage.

In contemporary London, Zaleekhah, a hydrologist recovering from a broken marriage, finds solace in a houseboat on the Thames River. Her story is embedded with the rivers she studies; she reflects on love and loss, and her enduring memories that serve as a crucial link within the story’s broader tapestry.

At the heart of this novel is a single drop of water. Beginning with a drop on King Ashurbanipal’s head, this droplet’s journey through evaporation and rain, bridges the characters journeys. Shafak’s prose is beautiful to read, and though the novel is an ambitious one, I had no trouble following the narratives, and found them woven together perfectly at the end. This novel is a remarkable achievement on how water, history, and memory intertwine to shape our identities and experiences. It was a beautiful story, and one that pushed me to research more about these parts of history I didn’t know much about. Highly recommended.