There are Rivers in the Sky

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.

Winner of the Gordon Bowker Prize 2025
Winner of the Inaugural Good Housekeeping Good Books Spring Collection
Finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction

'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