There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Description

There-Are-Rivers-in-the-Sky-by-Elif-Shafak:From-the-Booker-Prize-finalist-author-of-The-Island-of-Missing-Trees,-an-enchanting-new-tale-about-three-characters-living-along-two-rivers,-all-under-the-shadow-of-one-of-the-greatest-epic-poems-of-all-time.-“Make-place-for-Elif-Shafak-on-your-bookshelf…-you-won’t-regret-it.”-(Arundhati-Roy)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.”