This story starts with a raindrop falling on the head of King Ashurbanipal, ruler and murderer of people but also holder of the most miraculous library in the world at that time. Then we meet Arthur Smythe, born on the banks of the river Thames to a mother who was a mudlarker living in poverty. As he first opens his mouth, a snowflake lands on his tongue, the snowflake made from the raindrop that fell on Asurbanipal many centuries previously and so time is bridged between the Ancient and Victorian. We follow the water.

Next is Narin, a young girl who is a Yazedi on the edge of the Tigris, at Lalish, to be baptized, taken there by her Grandmother. Lalish is important to the Yazedis but is in Iraq, a country at war. Lalish is the home of their most holy temple and contains the body of their prophet.

Next we move on the the Thames again, but this time in 2014 where Zaleekah Clarke lives after the breakdown of her marriage. Depressed and lonely, she rents the houseboat despite the death of her parents through some accident to do with water which the book takes a long time to reveal.

The links between the stories

The four stories are linked through a variety of objects although water is the main idea that flows through them all including pollution, how it is used in war and showing how necessary for humans in an area as well as diversity of nature. There are also mythical creatures such as the lamassu, signifying strength, intelligence and freedom, the epic poem of Gilgamesh and abandonment by parents for all the characters. These motifs and themes are woven in and out of the stories providing much to admire in the concept behind this book.

So, why didn’t I like it?

This is always so much harder to articulate than why I did like something.

The four stories were not equal with Zaleekah’s being less integral to the whole narrative. There was no need to discover that she was gay or that her Aunt was the power behind the couple who raised her rather than her Uncle. Whilst she worked with water and lived on the water, it seemed secondary to her depression and the breakdown of her marriage. Her story was not essential to the story of water linking across centuries and remained much weaker than the others.

Water is the dominant theme but it disappeared after the start of the book. If I were being kind, I would say that in the book water was treated like the hidden rivers that were mentioned under London and many other cities but I am not sure that was intentional. There were also cliches such as women being like water, a kiss being like tears or voices from other realms that were sentimental rather than aiding us to see how fundamental water is to us or to understanding the Yazedis.

There were moments in the book where the research began to feel a bit like a lecture rather than providing an underpinning and about 200 pages into the book I got bogged down and had to force myself to finish it. I had guessed/worked out the ending and the book didn’t provide the drive forwards to read it.

What did work?

I thoroughly enjoyed Arthur Smythe’s story, a rags to riches in terms of finding fulfilment and a role for his special abilities for seeing patterns in things others can’t. It was his story that made the Ashurbanipal story relevant but the best part was the story of the Yazedis. That is a story that has yet to be told and so was new, something the rest of the book was not. When the Yazedis fled ISIS, those who executed the men, shot the children as they scavenged for water and chased villagers into the caves of Sinjan to die, it was the only time in the book where I felt that a desperation was conveyed with any strength of feeling. This story was half submerged by the others and deserved to be the centre of attention.