Pub by: Penguin Random House UK
It begins with a single raindrop.
“A heartbeat later, the king feels something wet plop on to his scalp and nestle in his hair.”
Beginning with a raindrop falling on King Ashurbanipal’s head in ancient Mesopotamia to the snowflake that touches all, it is the raindrop or the snowflake that binds the tales in ‘There Are Rivers in the Sky’.
“The snow flake was a raindrop once upon a time, in a land far away…..gently, it alights on the baby’s face dropping between his open lips.”
Arthur. Born in poverty in the 1800s by the River Thames, but blessed with an extraordinary talent, he chances upon the Lamassu in the British Museum. And thus, begins his single-minded obsession to unravel and unearth the stones inscribed with ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’, the invisible thread binding the book.
“This she cannot know, but that drop was a snowflake once upon a time, in a land far away.”
Narin (2014). A young girl born in a Yazidi family whose women are blessed with divine powers. Living on the banks of river Tigris, she travels to Iraq with her grandmother to witness brutal persecution by the ISIS.
“A tear falls on the back of her hand…..was a snow flake once upon a time….”
Zaleekhah (2018). A traumatic childhood, and a failed marriage, she works as a hydrologist driven to solve the mysteries of the water in the scientific world.
Running between the three tales of Arthur, Narin and Zaleekhah, the author flits from the past to the present, across centuries and continents, creating a saga of survival and resilience, passion and desire, despair and melancholy, water being the constant through the tales.
Water is the constant as she weaves the tales.
“Whatever happens, tell it to the water. It will take away all pain and fear. And even if you cannot find a flowing stream, remember it is in you. You are made of water.”
The book also flows like water…. meandering, wandering, flowing, bobbing gently, sometimes roaring, sometimes sedate, sometimes gurgling with laughter, sometimes crashing with fury or howling agony.
The prose is hauntingly lyrical, like a disturbed soul, restless, tossing and turning, in search of something elusive, unnamed and untold. Overwhelming with its landscape of time and emotions, it instills and arouses a deep sensitivity to the world around us.
“Time is a river that meanders…..”
Water is the time traveller, transcending decades and ages, setting a path strewn with tales and stories.
The book is a document. Endowed with rich historical facts, the book reflects the immense research which Elif Shafak must have undertaken to write it. History and modern science reside together on the pages of this book when she talks of ancient civilisation epics and hydrology, along with the mission to unearth the long buried rivers. In fact, it was a very exciting find for me too.
‘There Are Rivers in the Sky’ is a compelling piece of work.
Beautiful and sad. Fascinating and painful.
“Water is the consummate immigrant, trapped in transit, never able to settle.”
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