![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Book-Aug-2026.jpg?resize=200%2C286\")
<\/a>Many of our group were eager to read this book because we had enjoyed the author\u2019s previous novels. We had high expectations and were keen to see how this story would compare \u2026\u2026. and for the majority of us, it did not disappoint.<\/p>\nThere are Rivers in the Sky is a beautifully written and thought provoking novel that weaves together multiple timelines and characters with great skill The story follows the lives of three people: Arthur Smith from 1840, Narin, a Yazidi girl in 2014 and Zaleekah, a modern Turkish\/English girl who are linked by a single raindrop and by rivers. These two things become a symbol of how water connects people through generations and memories.<\/p>\n
The book explores many different themes, and the author raises several important topics: who do ancient artefacts in museums belong to?, problems of damming large rivers and the horrific treatment of the Yazidi people by different dominant groups, amongst other questions.<\/p>\n
The whole group enjoyed Elif Shafak\u2019s beautiful and descriptive writing; something she has excelled in with her previous novels. Her characters are memorable and Shafak\u2019s clever writing brings all the stories together; her vivid language is a joy to read. Some descriptions of events can make uncomfortable reading, but the majority of the group felt that these events contributed to the clever intertwining of the characters and their lives. If you don\u2019t enjoy storylines moving between different timelines and characters, this may not be for you.<\/p>\n
The majority of our group thought this book was outstanding and said that the story and the characters will stay with them for a long time. When rating the book, most gave it scores between 8 and10 out of 10 and almost all would recommend the novel to others to read.<\/p>\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “There are Rivers in the Sky ” by Elif Shafak Many of our group were eager to read this book because we had enjoyed the author\u2019s previous novels. We had high expectations and were keen to see how this story would compare \u2026\u2026. and for the majority of us, it did not disappoint. There are Rivers in the Sky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[437,41],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-4tY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12918,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12918","url_meta":{"origin":17234,"position":0},"title":"The Island of Missing Trees\u00a0by Elif Shafak","author":"Alan Williams","date":"2nd February 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The Island of Missing Trees\" by Elif Shafak A rich magical tale of belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal. This was a book that the whole group enjoyed and more than one person scored it as 10 out of 10 - a rarity indeed! The book is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Missing-Trees.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13006,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13006","url_meta":{"origin":17234,"position":1},"title":"Place-Names Derivation – ABER, BRYN, CWM, PONT","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th March 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES We\u2019ll now look at some common elements in Welsh Place-names. ABER I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen this element in many placenames. The word \u2018aber\u2019 means \u2018the confluence of two waters\u2019 and because so many places containing this word are situated on the coast, it is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4263,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4263","url_meta":{"origin":17234,"position":2},"title":"Yellow Fish Drains","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th February 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Yellow Fish? In Wenvoe? We hope so, sometime in April or May. So what is this all about? The Yellow Fish campaign involves using a stencil to spray-paint yellow fish alongside street or storm drains. This UK-wide project is already underway and its purpose is to draw our attention\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14364,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14364","url_meta":{"origin":17234,"position":3},"title":"Blackmill & Treorchy","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th June 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Blackmill & Treorchy\u00a0 Blackmill - This walk took us to some beautiful countryside, although wet underfoot there were stones in most places, so it was not too muddy! We began in Blackmill and walked up the Ogwr Fawr towards the Ogmore forest and back via Cwm Dimbach. Blackmill is at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Picture11.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":634,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=634","url_meta":{"origin":17234,"position":4},"title":"Waterfall Country","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Waterfall Country \u00a0(OS map OL12)Pontneddfechan is a former silica mining hub and sits at the confluence of the rivers Mellte and Nedd Fechan. Silica mining took place in this area from the 18th century to the mid 1960s. Because of its high resistance to heat, silica was used to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4214,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4214","url_meta":{"origin":17234,"position":5},"title":"Enjoyment of the Night Sky","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I have been pleasantly surprised by \u2018proper\u2019 dark evenings and nights. So many of the places I have lived had city lights or Street lights close enough to tone down the crispness of a starry, starry sky. Here I enjoy the last evening time that I let our dog\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17234"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17238,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17234\/revisions\/17238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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