RaveThe New StatesmanShafak burnishes her reputation as a supreme storyteller. She displays profound wisdom and empathy, and encyclopaedic knowledge of the mythology of the part of the world in which she was raised. She enthrals us, all the while opening our eyes to how the sweep of nature, geography, culture, politics and religion have shaped humans throughout our history ... In the hands of a less accomplished writer, this multi-layered, time- and space-spanning story might have collapsed under its own weight. It is a tribute to Shafak’s skill that though it teeters at times, it never falls ... What Elif Shafak excels at, though, is making us understand that, despite the many ways humanity divides itself, we are all connected – by nature and also by the stories we pass from generation to generation.
