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Learn moreBookseller recommendation
“Breathtaking in scope and scale. Shafak uses a drop of water to span centuries, characters and geography. Itโs never a gimmick though, and ultimately she moves away from it (most of her books have an element like this, last book was a talking fig tree). Heartbreaking and powerful storytelling at every turn. I cannot even imagine the research that went into this. And while sheโs writing about a genocide we all lived through, like all historical fiction, sheโs also writing about this time right now. You quite simply have to read this book and if you havenโt read Shafak before you must go back too. The audiobook narrator was magnificent.”
— Jaclyn • Hill of Content Bookshop
Bookseller recommendation
“This book is so excellently told, narrated and woven through so many times. I am enjoying the story of Zaleekhah, Narin and Arthur so much and cannot wait to discover how they are all connected. I was heartbroken to be reminded of the atrocity committed against the Yazidi people.”
— Michelle • Bear Hunt Books
Bookseller recommendation
“I loved the scope and the reach of this book. It pleased my brain with its spiderweb-like connection of ideas, a call to protect our planet and a love of knowledge. I was wholly immersed and cared for the characters across the time span.”
— Mog • Warwick Books
Bookseller recommendation
“Another super listen, from the same author that brought you The Island of Missing Trees.”
— Hilary • Bridge Street Books
Brought to you by Penguin.
This audiobook is read by Olivia Vinall, and Elif Shafak reads the Note to Reader at the end of the story.
This is the story of one lost poem, two great rivers, and three remarkable lives โ 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. Arthurโs only chance of escaping poverty is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a printing press, Arthurโs 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 โ until an unexpected connection to her homeland changes everything.
A dazzling feat of storytelling from one of the greatest writers of our time, Elif Shafakโs There are Rivers in the Sky is a rich, sweeping novel that spans centuries, continents and cultures, entwined by rivers, rains, and waterdrops:
โWater remembers. It is humans who forget.โ
*****
โElif Shafak is a unique and powerful voice in world literatureโ 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
ยฉ Elif Shafak 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024
Elif Shafak (Author, Reader)
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist, whose work has been translated into fifty-six languages. The author of nineteen books, twelve of which are novels, she is a bestselling author in many countries around the world. Shafak's last novel, The Island of Missing Trees, was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller, and was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and the Women's Prize for Fiction. Her novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the RSL Ondaatje Prize. There Are Rivers in the Sky is her latest novel.
Elif Shafak (Author, Reader)
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist, whose work has been translated into fifty-six languages. The author of nineteen books, twelve of which are novels, she is a bestselling author in many countries around the world. Shafak's last novel, The Island of Missing Trees, was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller, and was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and the Women's Prize for Fiction. Her novel 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the RSL Ondaatje Prize. There Are Rivers in the Sky is her latest novel.