Review: There Are Rivers in the Sky

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hooter: Water remembers; it’s humans who forget.

Elif Shafak’s There Are Rivers in the Sky is one of those rare books that stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page. She uses water- rivers, raindrops, tides- not just as a backdrop, but as a living, breathing presence that ties together memory, history, and human connection.

The story opens in ancient Mesopotamia, with a droplet of water falling on King Ashurbanipal’s beard- the last great Assyrian king and the man behind the famed library of Nineveh. From there, we jump across time and place, following three seemingly unrelated lives: Arthur, an archaeologist in 1840s London, born in poverty but obsessed with decoding Assyrian clay tablets; Narin, a Yazidi girl in 2014, grappling with the trauma of ISIS persecution and the weight of her Assyrian ancestry; and Zaleekah, a modern-day hydrologist in Britain, navigating identity, science, and memory.

What’s incredible is how their stories flow into each other- sometimes subtly, sometimes powerfully- always connected by water. Shafak doesn’t just build characters, she builds worlds. Each one feels rich, layered, and heartbreakingly real.

For me, the book was more than just historical fiction- it was a lens into forgotten empires and the cyclical nature of human suffering and resilience. It also made me reflect on how knowledge, like water, can be both preserved and lost over time.

Elif Shafak has fast become one of my favourite authors. Her storytelling is intelligent, emotional, and deeply human. This book made me care about Assyrian history, rethink how we preserve memory, and reminded me how interconnected we all really are- through time, through trauma, and yes, through water.

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