Flowing through time with There Are Rivers In The Sky

Travel from Nineveh in Mesopotamia, through to Victorian England and onto modern London, Turkey and Iraq on a drop of water.

There Are Rivers In The Sky, By Elif Shafak. Big Sis recommends for May 2026 Sisters Book Club. Aka “There’s so much water, so close to home” (IFKYK).

Why this book?

There is a weird little invisible cloud I am calling the “Serious Readers’ Zeitgeist” where the names of amazing books float. You, a ‘Serious Reader’, are looking for a new book to read, and amongst the plethora of books in front of you (with me you know it’s scrolling through hundreds of options on my Library Apps — I have several apps and several library memberships, so there is a lot of scrolling). Your eyes focus on one book. Without you knowing it, the “Serious Readers’ Zeitgeist” cloud has precipitated the knowledge that this is a good book and that you will enjoy it. This is how There Are Rivers In the Sky ended up on my TBR pile. There was a sense of recognition on reading the title, as my little inner voice heard the secret poured into my ear and said, “oh yeah, this one”. As usual the “Serious Readers’ Zeitgeist” got it right. I loved it, and just had to recommend it for our Sisters Book Club.

Where did it take me?

When a book so vividly opens a portal to a specific time and place, a lovely magic happens, you are immersed. I was so completely enchanted with Arthur Smyth, he was so vividly drawn, that I looked him up on Google. “Of course”, I said, when I saw George Smith, Assyriologist in the results, “Arthur is based on a real person! How marvellous!” Naturally Elif Shafak took some poetic license while working within the established history, and the magic is in how wonderfully true her telling all seemed to be. This is the best of historical fiction, moving through from Ancient Mesopotamia, to Victorian England to various places in the present — everything seems to be illuminated, and you are there, living in those spaces. Delicious!

Sadly, not all historical fiction works for me, as I have my biases — everyone raved and raved about Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, and I have no doubt it was as brilliant as people say, but I cannot read about English Aristocracy — it’s a bias, a deep antipathy on my part that I cannot seem to overcome, irrespective of literary merit. Actually, it’s worse than that, it’s a deeply stubborn — ‘no, they can all get stuffed’. We all have our limitations.

The other wonderful thing about There Are Rivers in The Sky was the cultural immersion in Anatolia and Mesopotamia, in both ancient and more recent history. I find it deeply gratifying reading about areas that are so closely culturally related to Greece. It’s like finally seeing someone who looks like you depicted in a film — like seeing Antony Quinn in Zorba The Greek — he looked it, his gestures, the attitude, the dancing — he nailed it, it was a big Yes! As opposed to most of what we get, like Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra — nope! Or Brad Pitt as Achilles in Troy — nope. I’m being a bitch, but most of my reading is in English and is about standard Western culture — there are many excellent novels, no doubt about it, there is nevertheless this gap. Being bi-cultural, most of what I read links to only half of my cultural ‘knowing’. That’s another thing that makes reading There Are Rivers In the Sky a joy, it’s a door into the other half of who I am — stories that link to our ancestors’ shared lives — like how the Yazidi are ‘othered’ in Türkiye and Iraq — as Greeks had been under the Ottomans. Or like the stories told of village ancestry that connect you all the way back through the generations. And of course, the food and hospitality traditions. Do you sense this too, Little Sis (and any other bi-cultural readers of my rant, I mean book review?)?

A final note on where There Are Rivers In The Sky took me, that is to reflections of our interconnectivity through time, to our stories told over generations, to the stories mum has told us since childhood. This was like a reassuring hug. Sharaf used a metaphor of water remembering, that allegory felt like a call to ancient wisdom. Personally, that didn’t quite land for me, it felt unnecessary — the other repeating motifs worked far better for me — the cuneiform in different forms, the cultural rules and expectations, particularly those on women, the thread of the storytelling goddess Nisaba, as she is represented by various women telling their stories. I like those interconnections much more, and I see them in the thread of our lives, the languages we use, the traditions we follow, connecting us back to ancient times.

I’ve since read another of her books; The Bastard of Istanbul, and have another on the TBR, The Forty Rules of Love. So good to discover a writer you enjoyed has a substantial back catalogue. Although my TBR needs culling not appending. Nah –as with all good things — we say “ahhh, fuck it — more is great — More! More! More!”.

Wild Life update

Today’s house guess is only as big as my palm.

I saw this house guest initially on the ceiling of the lounge room. As I have a ‘wildlife stays outside’ policy I did ask Big Bro to come and rehouse him. He said that Henry is welcome to stay (translation from Bro-speak = I’ve named him so now I am not able to commit this heinous act of arachnicide). Henry has since relocated on his own to the passageway wall near mum’s room. Luckily her poor vision means that she hasn’t noticed him yet… maybe I’ll ‘deal’ with him, maybe I won’t. He’s big but harmless. I hope. Mosquitos are more of an issue for me, and I currently have 3 bites on my chest — they must have got me while I slept — but how they managed some side boob is beyond me, did they sneak under my sheets? I feel violated.

An interesting way to expand the range for Easter

Here’s another local tidbit for you — seeing as you order and get delivered, you may be missing out on the weird stuff marketing comes up with to sell us more stuff. Hot Cross Bun flavoured vodka was available in plenty leading up to Easter. Yes, I know, this is an old photo now. I have some more photos like this if you feel you are missing out by not doing a grocery run like us mosquito bitten mortals.

And now for another Medium link — I love Dr Leo — he writes so powerfully, I feel like standing up and applauding. Tell me what you think.