? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

A tale of a water drop: Elif Shafak’s There Are Rivers in the Sky explores the significance of water through a tale that spans centuries. In a time when global water issues are increasingly critical, the book uses the journey of a single drop of water to reflect on the politics and preciousness of water across history.

The novel begins in ancient Mesopotamia with a raindrop falling into the hair of the erudite king Ashurbanipal. This raindrop then transforms into a snowflake and ends up on the tongue of a Victorian urchin named Arthur Smyth. As the story progresses, the raindrop’s journey continues into the 21st century, touching the life of Narin, a Yazidi girl in war-torn Iraq, and Zaleekhah Clarke, a hydrologist living on a houseboat in London.

The story brings together different timelines and characters, which end up having more in common than initially thought — all three timelines are connected by recurring motifs like parental abandonment and the transformative power of water.

What to expect? “Some of the connections between these various threads are more rewarding than others. When the puzzle pieces fit into place, and the fates of the present-day characters collide, the final twist is both contrived and genuinely moving,” the New York Times writes in its review of the novel.

You can find the book on Amazon.

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