Celia's Reviews > The Covenant of Water

I finished this book well over a month ago and see I have not yet written a review. This book overwhelmed me to such an extent, that I barely know where to start.

The story is very complicated but tied together beautifully in the end.

The characters are strong and memorable.

There are two stories:

A young girl, 12 years old, lives in India and is promised to a widower, aged 40. She does not have a name, but when she becomes the stepmother of her husband's son, she is called Big Ammachi (Big Mother). Eventually husband Parambal and Big Ammachi have two children of their own, Baby Mol, a girl orn with a developmental disorder, and Philipos, their son.

The novel follows the girl and her new family through the years 1900-1977. The girl will quickly learn that her husband’s family is unique: they suffer from what she terms the Condition. In nearly every generation, there is a tragic drowning among its members.

The alternate story centers on Digby Kilgore, a Glasgow, Scotland native who enlists in the Indian Medical Service.

The lives of these two eventually intersect in ways that profoundly impact their fates.

This book is a long-awaited second novel from Verghese who wrote Cutting for Stone, published in 2009.

Verghese is a polished writer; this book shows him at his VERY best.

I would also like to recommend his autobiography: My Own Country: A Doctor's Story
I was very impressed by it as well.

5 stars