There are Rivers in the Sky is the brand new novel from Turkish-British author Elif Shafak. It’s an epic story about one lost poem, two great rivers and three remarkable lives, all connected by water.
The novel begins with a single raindrop falling on the head of Ashurbanipal, the king of Assyria, as he takes a walk outside in olden times. Over the next centuries to come, that raindrop eventually forms part of a snowflake, a cloud, even a teardrop as it travels the world over and over again.
Using the raindrop as a way to underpin how nature and humankind are inherently intertwined, Shafak says, " if we want to see how connected we are, we should look no further than the journey of a single raindrop”.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast, Shafak describes the book as a “love letter to water”, but also as a reflection on the climate crisis and the increasing issues with fresh water supply.
“Because we’re surrounded by water and because we’re seeing sea levels rising and flash floods across all major cities and towns, we tend to think that there’s an abundance of water… But actually, the reality is that we are going to face more and more water scarcity,” she tells Róisín Ingle.
“Our rivers are dying and this has, of course, big consequences for everyone. But particularly for women or children or minorities… even a single drop of water, we cannot take it for granted”,” she continues.
Shafak wants readers to reflect on their own relationship with nature and the environment. “We have to reconnect with the environment and stop seeing ourselves as the owners of nature, or the consumers of nature. We think we’re so clever, that we’re above nature, but we’re only a very small part of a very delicate ecosystem,” she says.
In this wide-ranging conversation, the author also speaks about her nomadic upbringing and how it impacted her sense of self. We also hear about her decision to not return to her home country of Turkey and her surprising love of melodic death metal.
You can listen back to this episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
