This is a magnificent novel that travels a route through the Turkish cities of Trabzon, Tabriz, Tbilisi, Batumi and Istanbul. It is a story that stretches from the Balkan wars to the First World War. Two lives, beginning in Trabzon and Tabriz are headed straight for one another. Two rivers, or rather many rivers, first flow rapidly, and then slow to a calm. Two of these rivers are Settarhan, the unpredictable son of the most powerful and noble merchant in Tabriz, and Zehra, pearl of Tabriz. A bookseller from Batumi named Sophia also gets caught up in the river of Settarhan, who has a feeling of love or friendship. All of these rivers wind across the barren and dry landscape of war and immigration.