This heartbreaking read has been named as one of the best books of 2025 so far and it’s one readers have been in awe of. There’s nothing worse than reading a book that leaves you feeling disappointed. This novel has been praised by its readers, with one calling it an “an utterly transportive story,” in a review on Goodreads.

The novel follows the story of three characters living along two rivers, all under the shadow of one of the greatest epic poems of all time. There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop which manifests again and again across the centuries.  

Elif Shafak's There Are Rivers in the Sky was selected as the winner of the inaugural Good Housekeeping Good Books Spring Collection. 

Shafak's novel was chosen for its “immersive and powerful storytelling” and is joined in the collection by seven other titles.

One reader on Goodreads said: “Undoubtedly the best book I have read this year and probably one of the best in my lifetime, There are Rivers in the Sky encompasses everything I love about reading. 

“It is historical fiction at its best, taking place in long gone eras (pre biblical Mesopotamia as well as Dickensonian England) that peaked my curiosity and intellect. 

“The writing was so beautiful it was breathtaking at times. I learned about faraway places that haven’t been on my recent radar.

“There are four distinct stories and the main characters are so well drawn and interesting that each could have been the protagonist of an entire story.”

The novel won the Waterstones Fiction Book of the Month award for April 2025 and it was also shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2025.

Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist. She writes in both Turkish and English, and has published 19 books, 12 of which are novels.