Listen to a sample
There are Rivers in the Sky
- Author
- Elif Shafak
- Narrator
- Olivia Vinall, Elif Shafak
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date
- 8 August 2024
- Run Time
- 16 hours 49 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Historical fiction, Fiction: dual or multiple timelines, Narrative theme: identity / belonging, Narrative theme: displacement, exile, migration
- Rating
- 5.0 (5 reviews)
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What to expect
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 Shafak 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024
Critics Review
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It will make you think, cry, rage – and hope. It is Elif Shafak at her best
The New Statesman
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Gloriously expansive and intellectually rich... a magnificent achievement
The Spectator
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Richly evocative. A fascinating stream of storytelling.
Financial Times
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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.
I Paper
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An absorbing novel. Shafak is a novelist whose interest in mapping the intricately related world and its history goes beyond literary device.
Guardian
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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
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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
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Bright, vivid and timeless like rivers.
Philippa Gregory
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
-
5.0 5.0
A stunning book that inter-weaves it's timelines like the rivers. Beautiful.
steph_k 2026-06-12 -
5.0 5.0
Please rip my soul apart again, this was stunning!!!
hyperbooktivity 2025-07-19
Details
- Author
- Elif Shafak
- Narrator
- Olivia Vinall, Elif Shafak
- Duration
- 16 hours 49 minutes
- Release Date
- 8 August 2024
- ISBN
- 9780241996973
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Historical fiction, Fiction: dual or multiple timelines, Narrative theme: identity / belonging, Narrative theme: displacement, exile, migration
- Rating
- 5.0(5 reviews)
- Narration
- 5.0(5 reviews)
Synopsis
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 WorldThere 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 FICTIONWINNER OF THE GORDON BOWKER PRIZE 2025WINNER 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 Shafak 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024
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