There Are Rivers in the Sky

by Elif Shafak

It always surprises Zaleekhah how little thought and even less research humanity has devoted to water—the oldest and most common substance ever known. Older than the earth. Older than the sun. And millions of years older than the solar system itself. Given all the advances in technology, people assume that science understands water, but, in truth, only a small number of scientists specialize in the field and much remains to be discovered. Water is still the biggest mystery. Studying how it responds to growing threats—overpopulation, chemical pollution, habitat alteration, acidification and biodiversity loss—has brought Zaleekhah to the conclusion that every drop of rain that emerges through the aquatic cycle is, in its own way, a tiny survivor. If she’d had a streak of spirituality, she would have called it sacred.