Cover of The Covenant of Water
Read Time: ~5.8 hr

The Covenant of Water

by Abraham Verghese (2023)

About this book

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, three generations of a Christian family in Kerala, South India, suffer a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning. As the novel opens, a twelve-year-old girl is sent by boat to her wedding, where she meets her husband for the first time. She joins a prosperous household and becomes known as Big Ammachi, the matriarch of an extraordinary family that will endure hardship, celebrate triumph, and witness unthinkable changes over the coming decades.

Setting / LocationGlobal
Story EraContemporary
Protagonist / CoreNotable Characters

Readers who enjoyed this also loved

Cover of Cutting for Stone

Cutting for Stone

Abraham Verghese

Cutting for Stone (2009) is a novel written by Ethiopian-born Indian-American medical doctor and author Abraham Verghese. It is a saga of twin brothers, orphaned by their mother's death at their births and forsaken by their father. The book includes both a deep description of medical procedures and an exploration of the human side of medical practices. When first published, the novel was on The New York Times Best Seller list for two years and generally received well by critics. With its positive reception, Barack Obama put it on his summer reading list and the book was optioned for adaptations.

Cover of Inner Workings

Inner Workings

J. M. Coetzee

Inner Workings is a celebrated work by J. M. Coetzee (Nobel Laureate, Double Booker Prize Winner), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.

Cover of The Five

The Five

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Five is a celebrated work by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Literary Titan), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.

Cover of Burnt Sugar

Burnt Sugar

Avni Doshi

"In her youth, Tara was wild. She abandoned her loveless marriage to join an ashram, endured a brief stint as a beggar (mostly to spite her affluent parents), and spent years chasing after a dishevelled, homeless 'artist' - all with her young child in tow. Now she is forgetting things, mixing up her maid's wages and leaving the gas on all night, and her grown-up daughter is faced with the task of caring for a woman who never cared for her. This is a love story and a story about betrayal. But not between lovers - between mother and daughter. Sharp as a blade and laced with caustic wit, Burnt Sugar unpicks the slippery, choking cord of memory and myth that binds two women together, making and unmaking them endlessly."

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese | Literally Just Books