There Are Rivers in the Sky

by Elif Shafak

Gilgamesh Among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic by Theodore Ziolkowski is a fascinating source on the continuing influence and allure of the world’s oldest work of literature. Austen Henry Layard’s groundbreaking work Nineveh and Its Remains: With an Account of a Visit to the Chaldaean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or Devil-Worshippers; and an Enquiry into the Manners and Arts of the Ancient Assyrians has been crucial in my research and attentive readers will notice that I have played with the word order in the original title. Assyrian Palace Sculptures by Paul Collins, I Am Ashurbanipal: King of the World, King of Assyria, edited by Gareth Brereton, and Winged Bull: The Extraordinary Life of Henry Layard, the Adventurer Who Discovered the Lost City of Nineveh by Jeff Pearce have been precious sources. The scene where Arthur witnesses a kadi, a religious judge, grant permission to deceive and even slaughter the Yazidis on the grounds that they are not “people of the book” is based on Layard’s own accounts. It is real.