Knopf Publishing Group
There Are Rivers in the Sky
Couldn't load pickup availability
From the Booker Prize finalist, author of The Island of Missing Trees, an enchanting new tale about three characters living along two great rivers, all connected by a single drop of water.
"Make place for Elif Shafak on your bookshelf. Make place for her in your heart too. You won't regret it."--Arundhati Roy, winner of the Booker Prize
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.
In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur's only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur's world opens up far beyond the slums, and one book in particular catches his interest: Nineveh and Its Remains.
In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a ten-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family's ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.
In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.
A dazzling feat of storytelling, There Are Rivers in the Sky entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop which remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and harbinger of death, rivers--the Tigris and the Thames--transcend history, transcend fate: "Water remembers. It is humans who forget."
Share
Book Details
ISBN:
9780593801710
EAN:
9780593801710
Binding:
Hardcover
Pages:
464
Authors:
Elif Shafak
Publisher:
Knopf Publishing Group
Published Date: 2024-20-08
View full details
Every book by this author is incredible. She has such a beautiful way with words that I often read a section or sentence a few times just to let the words seep deeper into my system. Though fiction, there are enough real world places, struggles, and people to teach us so much, as long as we are willing to listen. The multiple timelines and places meld effortlessly together and keeps you engaged.
What an incredible book! Shafak weaves so many things together and never loses the thread. I was fascinated by these characters and enjoyed learning so much history in the process. I am eager to explore other works by Shafak.
Lyrical writing. Fascinating read with three stories within a story all connected by nature. Loved this. Highly recommend for those who cherish wonderfully rich characters.
A fascinating look at a religion that most people know nothing about, the Yazidis, surrounded by lyrical prose. Has resonant passages about the immigrant experience. Spans time in three key voices, the whole linked by the image of water and its cycle.
This book reads like poetry that enters your heart and mind. It was not an easy read and took me longer than my normal. Sometimes phenomenal must be taken in small doses.
