There are Rivers in the Sky

The beautiful Sunday Times bestseller from the author of The Island of Missing Trees & BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick

Preview

Failed to add items

Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.

Add to basket failed.

Please try again later

Add to wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Remove from wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Adding to library failed

Please try again

Follow podcast failed

Unfollow podcast failed

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.

Try for £0.00

More purchase options

There are Rivers in the Sky

By: Elif Shafak

Narrated by: Olivia Vinall, Elif Shafak

Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £14.51

This audiobook is read by Olivia Vinall, and Elif Shafak reads the Note to Reader at the end of the story.

The new novel from the Booker-shortlisted, internationally bestselling author of The Island of Missing Trees and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

There Are Rivers in the Sky is a rich, sweeping novel set between the 19th century and modern times, about love and loss, memory and erasure, hurt and healing, centred around three enchanting characters living on the banks of the River Thames and the River Tigris – their lives all curiously touched by the epic of Gilgamesh.

FINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION
WINNER OF THE GORDON BOWKER PRIZE 2025
WINNER OF THE INAUGURAL GOOD HOUSEKEEPING GOOD BOOKS SPRING COLLECTION

‘Elif Shafak is a unique and powerful voice in world literature’ Ian McEwan

'Shafak makes a new home for us in words' Colum McCann

'One of the best writers in the world today' Hanif Kureishi

Elif ShafakOlivia VinallElif ShafakPenguin

Genre Fiction

Historical Fiction

Literary Fiction

World Literature

Heartfelt

Inspiring

Thought-Provoking

England

War

Middle East

Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking England War Middle East

Critic reviews

It will make you think, cry, rage – and hope. It is Elif Shafak at her best

Gloriously expansive and intellectually rich... a magnificent achievement

Richly evocative. A fascinating stream of storytelling.

Engrossing. I turned the pages hungrily, carried by Shafak’s energetic prose and confident that it was heading towards a coherent and rewarding ending. As ever, Shafak did not disappoint.

An absorbing novel. Shafak is a novelist whose interest in mapping the intricately related world and its history goes beyond literary device.

Elif Shafak is a unique and powerful voice in world literature (Ian McEwan)

Shafak makes a new home for us in words (Colum McCann)

A writer of important, beautiful, painful, truthful novels (Marian Keyes)

A brilliant, unforgettable novel, which raises big ideas of 'who owns the past' with nuance and complexity. Elif Shafak ties together diverse time periods and places in a way that seems both natural and wonderfully unexpected. (Mary Beard)

Bright, vivid and timeless like rivers. (Philippa Gregory)

Most relevant

The scale of ambition in this novel and the wealth of material would have sunk a lesser writer but Elif weaves the threads together so deftly that she creates an effortless narrative flow. History, politics, philosophy and science all form the basis of what is overall a compelling tale. This is storytelling as essential to human life such as is defined by Walter Benjamin and John Berger and that's the highest praise I can think of.