There Are Rivers in the Sky is an extraordinary story, linking history, myths, and human experience. Spanning millennia and continents, the novel has gorgeous writing, captivating storytelling, and endearing characters, with incredible depth and capacity for compassion. This is just another display of Elif’s unparalleled storytelling finesse!  

At its core, the book is a meditation on water - its life-giving properties, destructive force, and capacity as a vessel for memory. We journey from the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh, cradled by the Tigris, to the Thames of Victorian London, and finally to the Tigris of contemporary Turkey. Through these disparate settings, Shafak introduces us to three protagonists whose lives are linked, though separated by either centuries or years, by their profound connection to water. 

Arthur Smyth, based on ​the Assyriologist George Smith, the nineteen-century Londoner with an eidetic memory, is drawn to the ancient world and, in particular, to the challenge that the Assyrian cuneiform tablets pose, discovers and translates the Epic of Gilgamesh for the first time. Narin, a Yazidi girl living with her grandmother (who had the skills to manipulate water) among her people by the Tigris, until her world was shattered by the brutal violence of the Islamic State. Zaleekah, a contemporary Londoner struggling with personal loss, finds solace and purpose in the study of hydrology, desiring to discover whether water has memory.  

What can three such different characters, situated in different moments of time and space, have in common? This is the question that puzzled me while I was indulging in Elif’s beautiful writing and storytelling. The common element is water. I believe Arthur’s incredible memory is related, in a way, to the idea that water carries memories, having no boundaries: the snowflake that fell on the newborn Arthur’s tongue by the river Thames, travels through time to meet Narin when she drinks the last drop of water when escaping the Islamic State, and Zaleekah a few years later when she is caught in the rain while moving away from her marriage. However, that is not all: the characters are also connected, in a different way, to the ancient history of Mesopotamia, either being passionate about discovering its secrets (Arthur), being part of its people (Narin), or discovering a new-found love for its culture (Zallekah).

All these relationships are masterfully executed, and it’s impressive how Elif could interweave these stories seamlessly. Even more, Elif creates a narrative where all these characters will be in the same place and time, being physically together (in different shapes, I will let you discover how). I am deeply awed by Elif’s storytelling and her capacity not only to build strong characters with immense depth but to have these characters educate us, and teach us about the history and culture of a people.

Because there is another dimension to this book, which, surprisingly, doesn’t complicate the plot and it occurs organically from the characters’ actions, travels, and conversations: the book is meant to revive the hidden history of an oppressed people, that suffered a tragic genocide in 2014, under the hands of the Islamic State. ISIS committed massacres, genocidal rape, and forced conversions on the Yazidis people (with over 5.000 men and boys killed and 10.000 women and girls trafficked). Called devil-worshipers by other religious groups, speaking a language different than the majority, they have been persecuted by the surrounding Muslims since the medieval ages. 2014 marked the beginning of the ethnic, cultural, and religious genocide of the Yazidis in Iraq, a place where they still face discrimination. Somehow, while building her characters, sharing important pieces of history, discussing the Epic of Gilgamesh, colonialism, and the ethics of Great Britain appropriating cultural and art pieces from across the world, Elif also tells the story of an oppressed people, which makes There Are Rivers in the Sky an epic historical fiction as well. 

There is so much art in this book: the mountain of research behind it, the personal stories interwoven with historical facts seamlessly, the theme of aquatic memory, an invisible thread that brings the whole story together. I do not have enough words to explain how beautiful and complex this book is, yet managing to be a captivating story that keeps you hooked from the first pages. I have no qualms to call this Elif’s masterpiece, an enthralling story, but also a powerful piece of historical fiction, with important cultural, religious, and spiritual insights of an oppressed people. 

How relevant this work is in our current context when another oppressed person is being massacred under our watchful eyes, displaced, and persecuted to the last person. Elif’s story is one that happened all over again, that is happening now, and, as long as humans think in terms of “us and them”, will continue to happen. Because there is no easier hate than the one stirred by defining someone different as “the other”.

 

Don’t be intimidated by the size of the book! Once you start it, you won't be able to put it down! Out of the seven books by Elif Shafak I have read in the last twenty years, this is, by far the most impactful.